Daily consumption of olive oil reduces the chances of developing dementia

A team of nutritionists and medical researchers at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health has found evidence that daily consumption of olive oil may reduce your chances of developing dementia.

The study was published in the journal JAMA Network Open.

The beneficial properties of olive oil

In their study, the team analyzed data from thousands of people included in two separate health databases and found that those who consumed at least 7 g of olive oil per day were less likely to die from related dementia. disorders.

Previous research has suggested that following the Mediterranean diet can lead to healthier outcomes for most people. The diet tends to stress the consumption of legumes, vegetables, dried fruit, fish, dairy products and olive oil. In this new study, the research team found evidence that the heavy use of olive oil in such diets could be one of the most significant factors.

To learn more about the possible health benefits of regularly consuming olive oil, researchers studied patient data from more than 60,000 women included in the Nurses’ Health Study and more than 31,000 men included in the follow-up study of health professionals. Both databases include historical information, following patients for up to 30 years. They also include data regarding the cause of death.

The researchers found that 4,751 of the 92,383 patients listed in the two databases had died from dementia-related causes. Comparing dietary information, they found that those who consumed at least half a teaspoon of olive oil per day over the course of the study years were 28 percent less likely to die from illnesses linked to developing dementia.

The research team also observed that many of the people in the databases who had consumed olive oil daily for many years had done so by using it to replace butter, mayonnaise and other vegetable oils in cooking and dressings. Those same people then ate less of those other products as well, which could have had an impact on dementia rates.

The team also suggests that consuming a Mediterranean diet, with a heavy emphasis on olive oil, may reduce your chances of developing dementia by inhibiting inflammation caused by other factors.

Olive oil could improve brain health

A further study suggests that incorporating olive oil into your diet could help reduce your risk of dying from dementia. As many countries face increasing rates of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, the study offers hope that healthy lifestyle factors such as diet may help prevent or slow the progression of these devastating conditions.

“Our study reinforces dietary guidelines that recommend plant oils such as olive oil and suggests that these recommendations not only support heart health but potentially brain health as well,” said Anne-Julie Tessier, RD, Ph.D., postdoctoral researcher at the University of Los Angeles. Harvard School of Public Health T. H. Chan.

“Opting for olive oil, a natural product, instead of fats such as margarine and commercial mayonnaise is a safe choice and can reduce the risk of fatal dementia.”

The study is the first to investigate the relationship between diet and dementia-related death. The scientists analyzed dietary questionnaires and death records collected from more than 90,000 Americans over three decades, during which 4,749 study participants died of dementia.

The results indicated that people who consumed more than half a tablespoon of olive oil per day had a 28 percent lower risk of dying from dementia than those who never or rarely consumed olive oil.

Additionally, replacing just one teaspoon of margarine and mayonnaise with the equivalent amount of olive oil per day was associated with an 8-14% lower risk of dying from dementia.

Research suggests that people who regularly use olive oil instead of processed or animal fats tend to have an overall healthier diet. However, Tessier noted that the relationship between olive oil and dementia mortality risk in this study was independent of overall diet quality. This may suggest that olive oil has particularly beneficial properties for brain health.

“Some antioxidant compounds found in olive oil can cross the blood-brain barrier, potentially having a direct effect on the brain,” Tessier said. “It is also possible that olive oil has an indirect effect on brain health by promoting cardiovascular health.”

Previous studies have linked higher olive oil intake with a lower risk of heart disease. Including olive oil as part of a Mediterranean dietary pattern has also been shown to help protect against cognitive decline.

Tessier cautioned that the research is observational and does not prove that olive oil is the cause of the reduced risk of fatal dementia. Further studies such as randomized controlled trials would be needed to confirm the effects and determine the optimal amount of olive oil to consume to obtain these benefits.

Overall, however, the study is in line with dietary recommendations and strengthens the evidence that using olive oil instead of margarine or mayonnaise can help support a healthy diet.

Higher olive oil intake is associated with a lower risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease

According to a study published in the Journal of American, consuming more than 7 grams (> 1/2 tablespoon) of olive oil per day is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, neurodegenerative disease mortality, and mortality from respiratory diseases. Faculty of Cardiology.

The study found that replacing about 10 grams per day of margarine, butter, mayonnaise and dairy fats with the equivalent amount of olive oil is also associated with a lower risk of mortality.

“Our findings support current dietary recommendations to increase intake of olive oil and other unsaturated vegetable oils,” said Marta Guasch-Ferré, Ph.D., senior research scientist in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and the lead author of the study. “Doctors should advise patients to replace some fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health.

Our study helps provide more specific recommendations that will be easier for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diet.”

Using participants from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, researchers analyzed 60,582 women and 31,801 men who were free of cardiovascular disease and cancer at the study’s baseline in 1990. During 28 years of follow-up, Diet was assessed using a questionnaire every four years.

The questionnaire asked how often, on average, they consumed certain foods, types of fats and oils, as well as what brand or type of oils they used for cooking and added to the table in the previous year.

Olive oil consumption was calculated from the sum of three questionnaire items: olive oil used for salad dressing, olive oil added to food or bread, and olive oil used for baking. and fry at home. One tablespoon was equivalent to 13.5 grams of olive oil. Consumption of other vegetable oils was calculated based on the brand of oil participants reported and the type of fat used for cooking at home.

Margarine and butter consumption was based on the reported frequency of consuming stick, tub, or soft margarine and the amount of margarine or butter added from baking and frying at home. Intakes of dairy and other fats and nutrients were also calculated.

The researchers found that olive oil consumption increased from 1.6 grams per day in 1990 to about 4 grams per day in 2010, while margarine consumption decreased from about 12 grams per day in 1990 to about 4 grams per day in 2010. Intake of other fats remained unchanged.

Over the course of 28 years, there were 36,856 deaths, of which 22,768 occurred in the Nurses’ Health Study and 14,076 in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. Participants with higher olive oil consumption were often more physically active, had Southern European or Mediterranean ancestry, were less likely to smoke, and had higher consumption of fruits and vegetables than those with lower olive oil consumption. ‘olive.

Average total olive oil consumption in the highest category was approximately 9 grams per day at baseline and comprised 5% of study participants.

When researchers compared those who rarely or never consumed olive oil, those in the highest consumption category had a 19% lower risk of cardiovascular mortality, a 17% lower risk of cancer mortality, a 29% lower risk of neurodegenerative mortality and an 18% lower risk of respiratory mortality.

The study also found that replacing 10 grams per day of other fats, such as margarine, butter, mayonnaise and milk fats, with olive oil was associated with an 8-34% lower risk of total mortality and cause -specific. They found no significant associations when replacing olive oil with other vegetable oils.

“It is possible that higher olive oil consumption is an indicator of an overall healthier diet and higher socioeconomic status. However, even after adjusting for these and other social economic status factors, our results remained essentially the same,” Guasch-Ferré said.

“Our study cohort consisted of a predominantly non-Hispanic white population of healthcare workers, which should minimize potentially confounding socioeconomic factors, but may limit generalizability as this population may be more likely to lead a healthy lifestyle .”

In an accompanying editorial, Susanna C. Larsson, Ph.D., associate professor of epidemiology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, said: “The current study and previous studies have found that consuming olive oil may have benefits for Health.

Questions remain: Are the associations causal or spurious? Is olive oil consumption protective only for some cardiovascular diseases, such as stroke and atrial fibrillation, or also for other serious diseases and causes of death? More research is needed to answer these questions.”