How olive oil reverses heart disease threat: Eating Mediterranean diet found to reduce obesity and blood glucose levels that can lead to the condition
- Study of people who ate fresh fruit, vegetables and fish with added olive oil
- A low-fat diet did not have same positive effect on health, researchers say
- Quarter of world's population suffers from obesity and high blood pressure
Eating
a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil could help reverse symptoms
which can lead to heart disease, research has revealed.
A
study found people who followed a diet of fruit, vegetables, fish and
wholegrains, with either added olive oil or nuts, reduced their obesity
and blood glucose levels – both symptoms of metabolic syndrome.
Following a low-fat diet did not have the same effect.
Metabolic
syndrome affects a quarter of the world's adult population and is a
combination of high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity which puts
patients at higher risk of heart disease and strokes.
Spanish researchers studied nearly
5,800 men and women aged 55 to 80 who were at risk of heart disease for
nearly five years (file photo)
Spanish researchers studied nearly 5,800 men and women aged 55 to 80 who were at risk of heart disease for nearly five years.
The
participants were divided into three groups: one ate a Mediterranean
diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil, the second ate a
Mediterranean diet with added nuts and a third group ate a low-fat diet.
The
researchers found both groups who followed the Mediterranean diets
decreased their obesity and blood sugar levels over the study period.
Remarkably,
while 64 per cent of participants had metabolic syndrome at the start
of the study, more than a quarter no longer had symptoms of the
condition after following the diet.
Lead
author Dr Jordi Salas-Salvado, of Universitat Rovira i Virgili and
Hospital Universitari de Sant Joan de Reus, said: 'Because there were no
between-group differences in weight loss or energy expenditure, the
change is likely attributable to the difference in dietary patterns.'
The
study suggested the olive oil-rich diet was the healthiest, as it
appeared to prevent people from accumulating fat around their waists,
which is often a precursor to diabetes.
Researchers found 64 per cent had
metabolic syndrome -- a combination of high blood pressure, diabetes and
obesity -- but more than a quarter of participants no longer had
symptoms after following the diet (file photo)
Those
who ate olive oil were less likely to store fat in this way – often
described as an 'apple-shaped' body type – than those on a low-fat diet,
even if they weighed the same.
It
is thought the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties of olive
oil, nuts and the fruit and vegetables of the Mediterranean diet could
help the body metabolise glucose and be a factor in lowering the risk of
Type 2 diabetes.
But
the research, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal,
also contradicted some previous studies by finding the diet failed to
stop the onset of metabolic syndrome.
The
study stated: 'Mediterranean diets supplemented with olive oil or nuts
were not associated with a reduced incidence of metabolic syndrome
compared with a low-fat diet; however, both diets were associated with a
significant rate of reversion of metabolic syndrome.'
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