Heart Healthier with Virgin Olive Oil

Virgin olive oil edges out other vegetable fats when it comes to heart health, new research has found. The study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine found virgin olive oil is extremely effective at reducing heart disease risk.

According to the European researchers who conducted the study, the beneficial effects are on account of the oil’s high level of antioxidant plant compounds. The researchers studied 200 healthy men to understand the effect of virgin olive oil on their heart.

They found virgin olive oil, with its rich supply of antioxidants called polyphenols, provides stronger health benefits for the heart as compared to more extensively processed “non-virgin” varieties.

According to the study authors, their findings clearly suggest supply of heart-healthy monosaturated fats is not the only positive aspect of virgin olive oil. They opine polyphenols may also have a big hand in providing some of the health benefits attributed to the oil.
“In fact, virgin olive oil is the only vegetable oil that’s rich in polyphenols,” said Dr. Maria-Isabel Covas, the study's lead researcher. “All vegetable oils other than virgin olive oil are submitted to a (refining) process in which polyphenols are practically lost,” explained Dr. Covas, a researcher at the Municipal Institute for Medical Research in Barcelona, Spain.

According to Dr. Covas even ordinary olive oil does not have the same high level of polyphenol content because it is a mixture of virgin and processed forms of olive oil. The study was conducted by getting the 200 young and middle-aged subjects to use each of three olive oils for a period of three weeks apiece.

Of the three oils, one was virgin olive oil while the other two were more heavily processed ones with moderate to low polyphenol levels. The oils were used as replacements to other dietary fats.

An analysis of heart data showed highest levels of “good” HDL cholesterol in all men after the three weeks they consumed virgin olive oil. A greater decline in markers of so-called oxidative stress – a process that helps deposit particles of “bad” LDL cholesterol on the artery walls was also found. Oxidative stress can lead to a hardening and narrowing of the vessels supplying blood to the heart.

“Monounsaturated fat is well known to be a healthier alternative to the saturated fat found in animal products like butter,” DR. Covas noted. “That fact, along with the benefits of polyphenols,” she said, “makes olive oil a good source of fat.”

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