Mediterranean Diet Myths?

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Mediterranean Myths: Region's Actual Diets Differ from Ideal ... Heart

Benefits Stem Largely from EV Olive Oil

Review clarifies centrality of Extra Virgin grade olive oil;

" Mediterranean Diet " touted by nutrition nabobs bears vague resemblance

to meatier, starchier reality

by Craig Weatherby

 

Some interesting facts, highlighted in a new scientific review from

Spain, suggest that extra virgin olive oil may hold the key to a public

health mystery.

 

It all starts with the famous " Seven Countries Study " , which was the

first to find heart-health benefits in the so-called Mediterranean Diet.

 

Subsequent studies confirmed that people living in the countries that

surround the ancient sea enjoy better heart health, compared with

Northern Europe or the US.

 

But as a reader reminded us recently, folks at the Weston A. Price

foundation, whose domain is traditional diets and their health effects,

have taken pains to highlight some inconvenient truths about the Seven

Countries Study and the " official " Mediterranean Diet.

 

It turns out that the Greek and Italian peoples in the Seven Countries

Study ate diets that bear little resemblance to the the idealized

" Mediterranean Diet " , to which most nutrition gurus say we should

aspire: one full of veggies, fruits, beans, and fish, with modest

amounts of whole grains and olive oil and only small amounts of meat,

poultry, and cheese. 

 

Indeed, such a diet is ideal for optimal health. But it isn't what most

Mediterranean people ate then or eat today.

 

Typical Italians, Greeks and Spaniards of the 1960's and 70's, living

when and where the famed Seven Countries Study occurred, ate lots of

meat, cheese, refined white bread, white pasta, not much fish at all,

and modest amounts of greens. And that picture hasn't changed much in

the intervening decades.

 

The author of a new olive oil health review puts her finger on an

explanation that's obvious in hindsight, because she and other

researchers have found a key part of the missing puzzle of the

Mediterranean Diet: the potent antioxidants in extra virgin grade oil,

or EVOO for short.

 

As Barcelona's Dr. Maria-Isabel Covas writes in her new paper, " Olive

oil is the main fat in the Mediterranean diet. The wide range of

anti-atherogenic [plaque-preventing/stabilizing] effects associated with

olive oil consumption could contribute to explain the low rate of

cardiovascular mortality found in Southern European Mediterranean

countries, in comparison with other western countries, despite a high

prevalence of CHD [coronary heart disease] factors. " (Covas MI 2007)

 

By " ... high prevalence of CHD [coronary heart disease] factors " she

means the high smoking rates and diets full of pork, sausage,

cheese, and white bread actually found among

people in Mediterranean regions.

 

The monounsaturated " Scandinavian Diet " : More clues to the mystery

The fatty acid that predominates in olive oil - a monounsaturated one

called oleic acid -- is also one of the main fatty acids in the animal

foods consumed widely in Western diets, such as poultry and pork.

 

Surprised? It gets better.

 

In a Swedish study published six years ago, comparing Swedish and

Spanish women, the Spanish ladies clearly ate more fruit and vegetables

than the Swedish women did ... no big surprise there.

 

The shocker was that blood levels of oleic acid were higher in the

Swedes than in women from Spain's Seville, and those levels correlated

closely with the Swedes' meat intake (Chajes V et al 2001).

 

Clearly, monounsaturated oleic acid alone is not what gives olive oil

its heart-healthy properties, or we'd all be talking about the wonders

of the " Scandinavian Diet " .

 

So why, despite eating diets that are not very heart-healthy - aside,

that is, from using olive oil in place of butter and corn or canola oil

- do Mediterranean peoples enjoy markedly lower rates of heart disease?

 

The answer lies in olive oil … but not, as we've seen, for the

monounsaturated reasons once thought … at least not the whole answer.

 

Mono fats form hearty foundation … but aren't enough

All grades of olive oil -- which contain equal proportions of

monounsaturated oleic acid -- do six good things:

 

Raise HDL ( " good " ) cholesterol levels

 

Lower triglyceride levels

 

Lower the ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol

 

Reduce oxidation of LDL cholesterol*

 

Lower blood pressure

 

Reduce damage to DNA from free radicals

 

*Oxidation of LDL cholesterol by free radicals plays a key role in

promoting cardiovascular disease. Using olive oil as your primary

dietary fat fills LDL particles with oxidation-resistant monounsaturated

oleic acid, instead of the polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acids that

predominate in other vegetable oils, like corn and safflower.

 

Until recently, these half-dozen beneficial effects had been attributed

solely to monounsaturated fatty acids, which predominate only in olive

oil and macadamia nut oil.

 

When in 2004 the US FDA began allowing olive oil labels to declare that

eating about two tablespoons (23 g) of olive oil daily could reduce the

risk of coronary heart disease, they specified that labels had to say

that this was " … due to the monounsaturated fat (MUFA) in olive oil. "

 

But that notion's been clearly proven wrong.

 

In fact, extra virgin grade oil (EVOO) - the only kind with its

antioxidants intact - appears substantially better for heart health,

compared with " virgin " grade oil and especially with antioxidant-free

" pure " grade, which can now simply be labeled " olive oil " .

 

We now know this, thanks largely to the landmark " EurOlive " study,

co-authored by Dr. Covas, on which we reported last fall (see " Extra

Virgin Olive Oil Confirmed as Best Cardiac Prevention Choice " ).

 

That trial examined the effects of the three grades of olive oil - which

have very different amounts of antioxidant phenols, ranging from none to

lots (in EVOO) -- on blood levels of triglycerides and cholesterol, and

damage to blood lipids and arterial tissues from free oxygen radicals:

so-called " oxidative stress " . (Covas MI, Nyyssonen K, et al 2006)

 

In the end, the high-phenol (Extra Virgin) olive oil outperformed the

other two oils (Virgin and Pure grade) when it came to enhancing three

factors helpful to cardiovascular health:

 

Lowest ratio of total cholesterol to " good " HDL cholesterol

 

Biggest rise in HDL cholesterol

 

Biggest drop in levels of oxidized LDL cholesterol

 

And other studies prove that the phenol antioxidants in EVOO - which are

scarcer in Virgin grades and utterly absent from Pure grade oils -- do

wonders for the health and performance of the endothelial tissue that

lines our arteries: a key factor in cardiac health.

 

All three oils reduced triglyceride levels to the same extent, which

suggests that the monounsaturated oleic acid in all olive oils is

largely responsible for this particular cardiovascular benefit.

 

You don't take huge amounts of EVOO to help your heart. As Dr. Covas

says in her new ...

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