HOW YOU CAN CUT RISK OF HEART DISEASE
DOCTORS believe the risk of heart disease can be reduced by adding four tablespoons of virgin olive oil each day to a Mediterranean diet.
They found that people who “eat like the Greeks” can boost their chance of good health by smothering their food in the south European dressing.
The study suggests that olive oil is even better at heading off heart disease than diets which are rich in nuts.
Dr Montserrat Fito, who led the research project, said his team found virgin olive oil can help flush harmful cholesterol from the body.
The oil boosts the function of high-density lipoproteins – so-called “good cholesterol” – which move and break down the “bad cholesterol” which can block arteries.
Dr Fito said: “Following a Mediterranean diet rich in virgin olive oil could protect cardiovascular health in several ways, including making our ‘good cholesterol’ work in a more complete way.” His team, from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute in Barcelona, studied 296 people with an average age of 66, at risk of cardiovascular disease.
The subjects were split into three groups, with each placed on either a Mediterranean diet with the extra olive oil, the same diet with extra nuts, or a healthy “control” diet, free of red meat, processed food, dairy and sweets. They took blood samples at the beginning and end of the one-year study and found the extra-oil dieters enjoyed higher good cholesterol functions.
Among the benefits were an increased capacity to channel cholesterol from plaque in the arteries to the liver, where it can be expelled from the body.
It also increased the lipoproteins’ ability to prevent the development of plaque and a tendency to keep blood vessels open so that blood can flow freely. Dr Fito added: “Study results are mainly focused on a high cardiovascular risk population that includes people who can obtain the most benefits from this diet intervention.”
British Heart Foundation dietitian Victoria Taylor said: “Eating a Mediterranean-style diet has long been associated with a reduced risk of heart and circulatory disease. This research continues to support this.”
She added: “Unsaturated oils like olive oil instead of saturated fats like butter and lard are also recommended. We may not have the weather, but UK dietary recommendations are largely consistent with a Mediterranean-style diet, so it shouldn’t feel too foreign to make some simple changes.
“Eat fruit, vegetables and wholegrains along with some white and oily fish, beans, pulses, nuts and low-fat dairy.”