Olives at a market in Toulon, France, Photo by David Monniaux via Wikimedia Commons
The traditional Mediterranean diet is usually popular for being low-fat and fiber-rich, with fish, vegetables, fruits and olive oil as some of the common ingredients of many cuisines.
But a Mediterranean diet regularly supplemented with a handsome intake of virgin olive oil protects human heart against risks of cardiovascular diseases, finds a new research.
The benefits of olives for sound health have long been known but findings of the new study by Spanish researchers in journal Circulation clearly explians how olive oil helps reduce the risk of heart diseases.
It all relates to functions of the cholesterol. What diet enriched with olive oil does is improve the function of good cholesterol, known as high-density lipoproteins (HDL).
This better functioning of the HDL means it is an antidote to accumulation of bad cholesterol, known as low-density lipopreteins (LDL) in blood vessels. Together with blood fat known as triglycerides, the LDL amplifies the risk of heart and blood vessel diseases. The LDL is found in meats and dried food.
An improvement in the functioning of the HDL means that it is better able to remove the LDL from heart vessel walls and send it to liver for flushing out.
The “good” cholesterol works in three ways : it removes excess cholesterol from arteries; acts as an antioxidant and keeps blood vessels open.
The study involved diets assigned to around 300 people vulnerable to cardiovascular diseases.
One group was asked to have Mediterranean food including vegetables, fruits, legumes and whole grains, with low amounts of fish and poultry but no high fat or sweet foods.
The other group was asked to include four teaspoons of olive oil in daily diet and the other to have good amounts of nuts every day.
After one year, scientists found that the Mediterranean food, when, enriched with virgin olive oil, improved the good cholesterol HDL’s functions, although it did not increase the HDL levels.
According to Dr. Montserrat , coordinator of the Cardiovascular Risk and Nutrition Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, the study shows that “a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil could protect our cardiovascular health in several ways, including making our ‘good cholesterol’ work in a more complete way.”
The finding is important as it helps advance medical understanding of how the HDL functioning improves and helps reduce the risk of heart diseases.
