Researchers have been looking into the benefits of olive oil and they found that those who used around ½ tablespoon of it in cooking, as a dressing, or along with their bread, had lower risks of dying from a variety of health conditions.
Is olive oil really worth its weight in gold? Could using ½ tablespoon or more of it instead butter or full fat dairy in the daily diet really help, especially when it comes to your chances of extending life? From what the researchers have observed, the answer is a solid yes. This was seen in a new study from the Harvard School of Public Health. The findings of which have been published on January 18 in the American Journal of Cardiology.
Researchers studied some individuals and discovered that those who used 7 grams (g) or more, which is around ½ tbsp, of olive oil in cooking, as a dressing, or along with their bread, had lowered their risk of dying of heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, or Alzheimer’s disease. They compared these individuals to those who rarely or never consumed olive oil in their diet.
They say that when you replace about 10 g a day (about ¾ tbsp) of butter, margarine, mayo, or dairy fat with the equivalent amount of olive oil, the risk early death lowers too. The findings of the study made support current dietary recommendations. Health experts promote the increased intake of olive oil and other unsaturated vegetable oils. This was mentioned by the lead author of the study, Marta Guasch-Ferré, PhD, a senior research scientist in the department of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston. She had said this in a release.
“Clinicians should be counseling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health. Our study helps make more specific recommendations that will be easier for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diets,” elaborated Dr. Guasch-Ferré.
The Many Health Benefits of Olive Oil
There are a variety of fatty acids found in olive oil, but it’s mostly composed of monounsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats, as opposed to the monosaturated kind, helps reduce the amount of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The LDL is what health experts often refer to as “bad” cholesterol, and the lowering of the numbers found in the body also lessens the risk of heart disease and stroke. This was according to the American Heart Association (AHA).
It’s a fact, however, that olive oil isn’t lower in calories when compared to the other types of oil. It contains 9 calories per gram (about 120 calories per tbsp), according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The amount is almost the same as the other types of fat. But because of the healthier components, experts recommend substituting olive oil instead of less healthy oils or butter rather than just adding this to your daily diet.
More People Use More Olive Oil and Less Margarine When Compared to Previous Decades
The researchers of the study ‘investigated a total of 60,582 healthy women and 31,801 healthy men. These participants came from the Nurses’ Health Study and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study. During the 28-year follow-up, the participants had their diet assessed every four years as well and each one was asked how often, on average, they consumed specific foods, types of fats and oils. Included in the questions is which brand or type of oils they used for cooking and added at the table in the previous year.
Many of them used of olive oil in cooking, dressings, and as a dip for bread. These were calculated and added together in order for them to estimate the total use. They also looked at their use of other types of fats such as margarine, butter, and vegetable oil, and these were calculated the same way as well.
Researchers observed a trend over time. They noticed that the olive oil consumption in the group had more than doubled from 1990 to 2010. They had gone from 1.6 g to 4 g of oil. During that same time frame, margarine use dropped from 12 g a day in 1990 to 4 g a day in 2010. As for the use of the other types of fat, the numbers showed no change.
People Who Used Olive Oil More Often Were Also Likely to Practice and Adopt Healthy Behaviors
For the study, the researchers placed each participant into one of four groups. This was dependent on how much olive oil they used:
- Never or less than one time per month
- Less than or equal to 4.5 g (about 1 tsp) each day
- Between 4.5 and 7 g (about 1 tsp to ½ tbsp) each day
- Lastly, more than 7 g (about ½ tbsp) per day
The findings were interesting. Those who consumed more olive oil were of the following:
- More likely to be physically active
- Came from Southern European or Mediterranean ancestry
- Were nonsmokers
- Reported eating more fruits and vegetables than those who didn’t consume as much olive oil
A total of 36,856 took place occurred during the follow-up study. When the researchers compared the groups, the people who consumed the most olive oil had a 19 percent lower risk of suffering from cardiovascular mortality, 17 percent lower risk of suffering from cancer mortality, 18 percent lower risk of suffering from respiratory mortality, and a 29 percent lower risk of suffering from neurodegenerative mortality≥ They put them against those who rarely or never used olive oil.
When they talked about respiratory diseases, these included acute illnesses such as pneumonia and influenza. They also took into consideration chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Neurodegenerative diseases, on the other hand, are diseases that involved the nerve cells in the brain or peripheral nervous system. These cells gradually lose function and die, as stated by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. The most common of these neurodegenerative diseases are Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases.
Moreover, the researchers also found that when they substituted 10 g a day of fats such as margarine, butter, mayonnaise, and dairy fat with the same amount of olive oil, they noticed that they had 8 to 34 percent lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality. The study was limited here as they found no vital links when substituting olive oil for other vegetable oils that are available in the market.
Olive Oil and Other Available Healthy Fats Could Help Protect the Brain
“This study adds to the growing literature on the importance of diet and healthy fats for brain health,” said Suzanne Craft, PhD. She is also a professor of medicine and codirector of the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention at Wake Forest School of Medicine in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
“The brain obtains all of its essential nutrients from the diet, so it is not surprising that dietary patterns that are repeated meal after meal, day after day, year after year, can affect how the brain ages,” Dr. Craft explained further.
Fats actually have an important function in the body. The brain cells and their connections contain high levels of fat. This, according to the doctor, is crucial for them to function normally. She said, “Unhealthy fats increase inflammation, which has negative effects on the brain and may increase the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and other brain aging disorders, while healthy fats such as olive oil are anti-inflammatory and may be protective as suggested by this study.”
Like many other studies, this one also comes with a few limitations. Craft shared, “The study is observational though, which makes it subject to some biases, and conclusive evidence is needed through interventional trials.” She was referring to the fact that the researchers involved simply recorded the different fats and amounts that the participants reported. They did this instead of randomizing a group and giving them a set of specified instructions about how much and what type of fat they should take in on a daily basis.
The authors also acknowledged the fact that olive oil may be linked to other behaviors that would make these subjects less likely to suffer from death. A lot of aspects come into play when it comes to health, such as having a better general diet or being in a higher socioeconomic status. Guasch-Ferré said, “However, even after adjusting for these and other social economic status factors, our results remained largely the same.”
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