Olive Oil Improves Marker of Heart Health

Previously, studies have identified that certain olive oil compounds, such as oleuropein and cafeic acid, possess antioxidant capacities that confer anti-inflammatory effects. Olga Castaner, from the Research Institute Hospital del Mar (Spain), and colleagues in the EUROLIVE Study Group, enrolled 200 healthy men in a study involving three-week intervention sequences during which the subjects consumed 25 milliliters per day of olive oils containing different levels of phenolic compounds. The high group’s dose was 366 mg per kg of olive oil, the medium dose was 164 mg/kg, and low dose was 2.7 mg/kg. Oxidized LDL autoantibodies (OLAB ) levels were inversely associated with oxidized LDL levels, with the consumption of the polyphenol-rich oil associated with an increase in OLAB levels. The team observed that the increase in OLAB levels was dose-dependent, so the higher the polyphenol content, the greater the OLAB increase, thereby potentially reducing the risk of artery hardening and heart disease.

Olga Castaner, Montserrat Fito, M. Carmen Lopez-Sabater, Henrik E. Poulsen, Kristiina Nyyssonen, Helmut Schroder, et al., for the EUROLIVE Study Group.  “The effect of olive oil polyphenols on antibodies against oxidized LDL. A randomized clinical trial.” Clinical Nutrition, 3 March 2011.