Olive Oil Phenolics Boost Cardiovascular Health

Category: Diet and Nutrition

The study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (2005, vol.46 no.10), investigated the effect of the phenolic content of virgin olive oil on the endothelium (the inner lining of blood vessels) of patients with high cholesterol levels. Spanish researchers from the Reina Sofia University Hospital in Cordoba, Spain, administered breakfasts of 60 grams of white bread with 40 milliliters of virgin olive oil of high and low phenolic content on different days, to 21 subjects (5 men, 16 women) with high cholesterol levels. To measure endothelial responses, ischemic reactive hyperemia (IRH) tests using Doppler laser were obtained from the participants, 2 and 4 hours after the meal. A poor response to the IRH test is considered an early warning sign of heart disease. Blood samples at baseline and 2 hours after the meal, were also obtained from the participants.

Researchers found that the participants' endothelium functioning of the fingers and concentration of nitric oxide and other healthy components in the blood improved, after the high-phenolic meal. However, these changes were not observed in the participants after the low-phenolic meal.

"One of the beauties of this study is that using a randomized, sequential, crossover study, so that the same patients were exposed to the same oil, once with low phenolic content and the other with high phenolic content, the only variable in this study is the phenolic content of the olive oil," says Juan J. Badimon, Ph.D., F.A.C.C., of the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, in a news release. "These results indicate that a very small change in diet, like using olive oil with a high phenolic content may have a significant impact in the progression of atherosclerosis."

Posted by Kristopher Foster on September 16, 2013 11:00 AM