Researchers from the Lipids and Atherosclerosis Unit of the Reina Sofía University Hospital in Spain have conducted a study in order to determine the influence of the micronutrients of certain fats on cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and cancer, and if their consumption might modify the inflammatory process in healthy people.

They studied diets based on three different fatty compositions, namely extra virgin olive oil, nuts and butter, observing that extra virgin olive oil modulates a healthy downward trend on individuals’ inflammatory levels, whereas a diet rich in nuts has an intermediate effect and the diet rich in butter exerts a damaging effect on inflammation mediators.

Scientific journals specializing in nutrition, such as the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology, Metabolism and Atherosclerosis, have already echoed the results of this work carried out by the Lipids and Atherosclerosis Unit of the Reina Sofía University Hospital.

The researchers have observed that olive oil reduces the plasmatic concentration of molecules in the walls of blood vessels that promote inflammation. They attribute this beneficial effect of olive oil partly to the high presence of micronutrients that might have an effect similar to that of anti-inflammatory drugs.

Antioxidant Properties
The Lipids and Atherosclerosis Unit is presently working in the search for beneficial effects related to the usual consumption of virgin olive oil. According to lead researcher Doctor Pablo Pérez Martínez, “the main property of olive oil is its richness of antioxidants, which makes it a unique fat. Therefore, we must clarify which is the added value of its components, as that is the only way to establish that a healthy diet must contain olive oil as its main fat. Olive oil is a key food in the Mediterranean diet, as it is its main source of fats and provides it with high-nutritional-value micro-components. According to the researcher, a diet based on olive oil lowers LDL cholesterol, reduces blood pressure, improves diabetes control and reduces risk of thrombosis. In the last years, and thanks to the new technologies, we have other oils suitable for human nutrition with a similar fatty composition, such as those extracted from certain seeds with high varieties of oleic, like sunflower, soya and canola oil. However, such oils present an essential difference with the oil extracted from olives, as “olive oil is a natural juice, which contains hundreds of non-fatty micro-components of biological interest, such as vitamin E, carotenes, scalene, chlorophyll and, especially, phenolic compounds”.

Micronutrients Benefits
According to Doctor Pérez Martínez, “the results of this study confirm once again the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, a model of nutrition with a high monounsaturated fat content from virgin olive oil, able to induce a wide range of biological effects on the cardiovascular system. In addition the most recent studies are gradually defining that some benefits depend on or can be favored with the consumption of olive oil rich in micro-components, like in the case of extra virgin olive oil and its anti-inflammatory properties, which are a new added value, together with the rest of well-known beneficial effects.
References:
1. Dr Pablo Pérez Martínez. A study reveals the anti-inflammatory properties of virgin olive oil. Oleociencianews. 
2, Image by byZED