Olive Oil and Nuts Lower Heart Disease Risk Better Than Pharmaceuticals

More vindication for a naturalMediterranean-style diet including plenty of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) andnuts was released in an advanced study published by the prestigious journalAtherosclerosis. Early results from aSpanish study with more than 7500 participants’ demonstrates that highquantities of dietary EVOO and a variety of different species of nuts is moreeffective in managing and preventing a heart event than traditional drugtherapy.

Many physicians place theirpatients on the standard prescription of beta blockers and ACE inhibitors in adesperate effort to prevent advancing heart disease, even though repeatedstudies prove these drugs are detrimental to long-term health. Include copiousamounts of EVOO and nuts in your diet to dramatically lower heart disease riskand avoid the need for risk drugs.

Study Provides Proof of Natural Diet over Drugs in the Fight againstHeart Disease

To conduct the study, researchersplaced the participants into one of three groups following either aMediterranean style diet receiving 15 liters of EVOO over a 90 day period, a nutgroup consuming 30 grams per day of walnuts, almonds and hazelnuts or a standardlow-fat diet. Among those participants over the age of 55, the scientists foundthat carotid artery thickness was significantly reduced in the EVOO and nutgroups for individuals with already thickened arterial walls.

Researchers commented,“A modification in the entire dietpattern managed to achieve in just one year, results that pharmaceutical drugsdid not – even after two years of treatment.” Lead study author, Dr. MiguelAngel Martinez-Gonzalez was impressed that a diet concentrated on natural foodsources high in beneficial fats improved cardiovascular risk outcomes more thanPharma options. The study also found that the traditional low-fat (highcarbohydrate) diet frequently prescribed by physicians and dieticians today hasno health benefits and allows for heart disease to progress unabated.

Monounsaturated Fats From EVOO and Nuts Improve Vascular Elasticity

Most alternative healthpractitioners understand that a dramatic reduction of wheat-based carbohydratescoupled with increased monounsaturated fats and Omega-3 sources can provide forvascular elasticity to lower risk of heart disease and stroke. No drug can makethe same claim, despite billions of dollars spent to market and promoteunnecessary pharmaceutical options to millions of unsuspecting patients.

Dr. Martinez-Gonzalez concluded “We thus observed… a significant improvementand regression of lesions having taken place in those cases that had followed aMediterranean diet enriched with virgin olive oil or nuts.” After just 90days of EVOO or nut consumption, lipoprotein ratios improved enough to deliversignificant improvement in heart disease risk for both men and women followingthe diet. To lower your risk of heart disease, adopt a Mediterranean-style eatingpattern and be certain to include a healthy dose of EVOO (unheated) and unprocessednuts (not roasted, cooked or heated).

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Posted in: Heart Disease,Nuts,Olive Oil

Daily Olive Oil Consumption Cuts Stroke Risk by Forty Percent

Critical research released in the industry publication journal Neurology from the American Academy of Neurology provides evidence that regular consumption of olive oil can help lower the risk of stroke. The study examined individuals over the age of 65 that are most vulnerable to the devastating effects of a stroke.

Scientists suggest that olive oil taken as part of a healthy diet can lower the life-altering risks associated with a stroke by 41% in the elderly. Based on this body of work, researchers “suggest that a new set of dietary recommendations should be issued to prevent stroke in people 65 and older."

Extra Virgin, Cold Pressed Olive Oil Consumed Daily Dramatically Lowers Stroke Risk

To conduct the study, researchers examined the medical records of 7,625 aging adults 65 or older from three cities in France. Participants were in generally good health and had no prior history of stroke. Olive oil consumption was determined by use of dietary questionnaire and usage was broken down into three groups: none, moderate and intense based on regular consumption habits. It is significant to note that virtually all olive oil consumed was extra virgin and cold pressed. This type of minimally processed oil has been found to lower the risk of heart disease in prior studies.

Participants were followed for a period of five years and 148 strokes occurred during that time span. After considering dietary, lifestyle and medical history researchers found that those with the highest intake of extra virgin olive oil were 41% less likely to suffer a stroke compared with those with the lowest consumption of the monounsaturated oil. In a secondary arm of this study where plasma fatty acid measurements were available, individuals with the highest oleic acid (olive oil fraction) were found to experience a 73% lower risk of stroke.

Olive Oil Found to Improve Blood Lipid Profile, Lowers Blood Pressure

Researchers noted that olive oil consumption is associated with lowered risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, lipid abnormalities and obesity. They stopped short of suggesting which particular elements of olive oil provide the stroke-protective mechanism. Extra virgin olive oil is known to be a rich source of natural polyphenols from the olive fruit that alters the oxidized, sticky nature of LDL cholesterol that is implicated with plaque build-up in the arteries.

The study author from the University of Bordeaux in France, Dr. Cécilia Samieri commented “Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it.” The study did not specify the amount of olive oil used by those in the `intense` group that experienced the highest degree of protection from stroke. Nutritionists recommend that most people should add 1 to 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil five days a week to reap the powerful health benefits of this monounsaturated oil.

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Posted in: Olive Oil,Stroke

Olive Leaf Extract Lowers Blood Pressure Better Than Drugs

The impact of high blood pressure places millions of Americans at significantly increased risk from cardiovascular disease and sudden death from a heart attack. Big Pharma and modern medicine are quick to prescribe a vast assortment of pharmaceuticals that fill the coffers of the drug giants and have little effect on true cardiac risk.

Publishing in the journal Phytomedicine, researchers found that a natural extract from the olive leaf plant can effectively lower blood pressure without the devastating side effects experienced by many placed on a lifetime of synthetic pharmaceuticals.

Olive Leaf Extract Lowers Blood Pressure Similar to Dangerous Drugs

Hypertension is one of the most devastating conditions that currently affects more than 50 million Americans. High blood pressure slowly and silently degrades the integrity of our vascular network of vessels and arteries, ultimately leading to heart attack, stroke and vascular dementia. Standard medical practice calls for the administration of multiple pharmaceuticals that further degrade health and carry a long list of damaging side effects.

Researchers found that olive leaf extract taken at a dose of 500 mg twice per day naturally lowered blood pressure in Stage 1 hypertensive patients similar to prescription ACE-inhibitor drugs. The study authors noted that extracts from leaves of the olive tree “have been used since ancient times to combat high blood pressure, atherosclerosis and diabetes and for other medicinal purposes.”

Additionally, researchers found that the groups of subjects taking the olive leaf extract demonstrated significant improvements in triglyceride levels, a positive benefit not seen with the pharmaceutical group. Although the specific blood pressure lowering action of olive leaf extract is not known, the study designers believe it is related to the active compound in the leaf known as oleuropein. Oleuropein acts synergistically with other chemicals in the plant to “exert both ACE inhibitory and calcium channel blocking activities.”

Olive Oil Lowers Risk from Oxidized LDL Cholesterol

Further scientific evidence supporting the powerful impact exerted by the olive plant is provided by researchers published in the journal Clinical Nutrition. The study found that polyphenol rich, cold pressed extra virgin olive oil boosted levels of an antibody in the blood that neutralizes oxidized LDL cholesterol that is implicated in the formation of coronary plaque. This significantly reduces the risk from atherosclerosis or hardening of the arteries and the progression of coronary artery disease.

Researchers again found that the antioxidant polyphenols oleuropein and cafeic acid found in olive oil exhibited powerful anti-diabetic, anti-atherosclerotic and anti-inflammatory properties. In response to increased dietary consumption of the polyphenols, the study found that critical immune response mechanisms were stimulated and deadly LDL oxidation was retarded.

Olive oil consumption was shown to yield reduced levels of systemic inflammation and a reduction in arterial plaque formation. Health-minded individuals will want to include 25 ml (just under two tablespoons) of extra virgin olive oil daily to provide maximum cardiac health benefits.

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Posted in: Blood Pressure,Olive Oil

Olive Oil Effectively Lowers Risk of Depression, Avoid Trans Fats

Our diet can have a significant impact on our well being and is shown to influence our mental health and risk of depression. Reporting the results of the SUN Project in the journal PLoS ONE, researchers have linked consumption of synthetic trans fats and saturated fats to an increased risk of suffering the debilitating effects of depression. The same research provides evidence that naturally fresh pressed extra virgin olive oil is protective against this form of mental illness.

Clinical depression is rising at an alarming rate along a similar path with many other chronic illnesses caused by poor diet and lifestyle. Statistics show that 150 million people are depressed worldwide. Medical practitioners are quick to prescribe any of a growing number of designer anti-depressant drugs that have been shown to contribute to long-term mental illness as they erode patient health.

Trans and Processed Saturated Fats Linked with Clinical Depression

The SUN Project followed the dietary and lifestyle habits of more than 12,000 volunteers over the course of six years. None of the participants exhibited signs of depression prior to the beginning of the study and 657 cases were diagnosed by the end. 

Researchers found that those individuals with the highest consumption of trans and saturated fats from fast foods and industrially-produced baked goods had a 48% increased risk of developing depression compared with those that did not consume these fats. The study found a dose-response relationship, meaning the more trans and saturated fats consumed, the greater the harmful effect they produced in the subject volunteers.

The team conducting the study found that polyunsaturated fats from fish and fish oil as well as monounsaturated fats including extra virgin olive oil influenced the occurrence of depression. The director of the SUN Project, Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez commented "we discovered that these types of healthier fats, together with olive oil, are associated with a lower risk of suffering depression."

The study concludes that the incidence of depression is escalating at a much greater rate in the western developed countries of Northern Europe and America due to a diet highly concentrated in processed foods known to be laden with trans and saturated fats. Southern European countries that traditionally follow a Mediterranean-style diet including plenty of fish and olive oil have a much lower occurrence of depression.

Olive Oil and Omega-3 Fats Improve Depression Symptoms

Brain health is dependent on a continual supply of unrefined fats Omega-3 and monounsaturated fats for neural development, communications and signaling. In the absence of these essential fats, inferior sources are employed that lead to premature aging and mental illness. The British Journal of Psychiatry found that EPA, an Omega-3 long-chain fatty acid is an effective intervention in bipolar depression.

Our brain is in a continual state of re-growth and repair. When this process is disturbed by the introduction of synthesized or improperly formed lipid structures (from overheated or fried oils during cooking) neural pathways are damaged and cannot function normally. One of the many consequences is the manifestation of mental disorders including clinical depression. Feed your brain every day with fats in their natural, unrefined form to protect this most critical organ from defect and disease.

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Posted in: Depression,Olive Oil