Heart Health Claim Approved for Olive Oil

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Heart Health Claim Approved for Olive Oil JoAnn Guest Mar 20, 2005 14:51 PST

 

By Maureen Williams, ND

 

Healthnotes Newswire (December 2, 2004)—The US Food and Drug

Administration (FDA) recently decided to allow a limited health claim to

appear on labels of foods that contain olive oil, according to a report

issued on November 1, 2004.

 

The FDA has announced that packaging labels on olive oil and foods made

with olive oil can now state that eating them might reduce the risk of

heart disease. This is the third qualified health claim made available

since the process for approving them was established in 2003. Under the

provisions outlined in the FDA’s “Interim Procedures for Qualified

Health Claims in the Labeling of Conventional Human Food and Human

Dietary Supplements,” qualified health claims are granted when the

scientific evidence supporting a health benefit is considered to be

limited but not conclusive.

 

Olive oil is an important component of the Mediterranean diet. A wealth

of evidence suggests that the Mediterranean diet is linked to low risk

of heart disease. In people with heart disease, switching to a

Mediterranean-type diet, low in saturated fat and rich in olive oil,

vegetables, and fiber, was shown to reduce the risk of death from

cardiac disease and all other causes by 70%. Studies have found that

olive oil may have many beneficial effects, including lowering blood

pressure, lowering total- and LDL-cholesterol levels, reducing plaque

formation in the arteries, preventing dangerous abnormal heart rhythms,

reducing inflammatory activity in the body, improving blood sugar

stability, increasing longevity, and reducing risk of some cancers. Some

studies have suggested that olive oil is most likely to improve health

when it is used to replace saturated fats and when its use does not

increase the total calories eaten per day.

 

Olive oil is known for its high levels of an omega-9 monounsaturated

fatty acid known as oleic acid. Olive oil has about 75% oleic acid and

this is believed be a major reason for its heart-disease-preventing

properties. Some of the other components in olive oil—including squalene

(a fatty acid), vitamin E, and antioxidant bioflavonoids—have also

demonstrated beneficial effects on heart-disease risk. At least 30

different antioxidants have been identified in olive oil.

 

Despite the overwhelming positive evidence, the FDA finds it

inconclusive and has therefore qualified the health claim attached to

foods with olive oil: “Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence

suggests that eating about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily

may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated

fat in olive oil. To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to

replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total

number of calories you eat in a day. One serving of this product [Name

of food] contains [x] grams of olive oil.” It is hoped that the printing

of a qualified health claim on labels will help people to make good

choices about what fats to include in their diets and help to dispel the

misguided belief that all fats are bad for health.

 

Maureen Williams, ND, received her bachelor’s degree from the University

of Pennsylvania and her Doctorate of Naturopathic Medicine from Bastyr

University in Seattle, WA. She has a private practice in Quechee, VT,

and does extensive work with traditional herbal medicine in Guatemala

and Honduras. Dr. Williams is a regular contributor to Healthnotes

Newswire.

 

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_________________

JoAnn Guest

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