Why Should You Use Olive Oil To Improve Your Health?

Eating better is an important part of preventing heart disease. That includes a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, whole grains, and fish. Current guidelines also suggest that substituting unsaturated fats—like those found in olive oil—for saturated fats could lower your chance of developing heart disease. Not only that, but you could also avoid many other diseases resulting form using saturated fats.

Adding support to that recommendation, a newly published study tracking the diets of more than 90,000 U.S. adults over 24 years found that olive oil was associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. The research, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, also showed that using olive oil instead of margarine, butter, mayonnaise, or dairy fats could help lower risk of heart disease as well.

The analysis included 61,181 women from the Nurses’ Health Study and 31,797 men in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, both of which have tracked the health of U.S. professionals for several decades. Participants were free of heart disease at the start of each study. They completed dietary questionnaires every four years, and outcomes were tracked from 1990 through 2014.

Individuals who consumed more than half a tablespoon of olive oil per day had a 14% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and an 18% lower risk of coronary heart disease than those who didn’t. There was no link found between olive oil consumption and stroke risk. In the survey, people used olive oil in salad dressings, added it to bread or other food, or in baking or frying at home.

Also, using olive oil instead of 5 grams per day of margarine was associated with 6% lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and substituting the same amount of olive oil for dairy fat was associated with a 5% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

Another element of the study examined biomarkers in blood samples. Higher olive oil consumption was associated with higher levels of high-density lipoprotein—the good—cholesterol.

“The present work generates new evidence suggesting that replacement of more saturated fats, such as butter and margarine, with healthy plant-based fats, like olive oil, is beneficial for the primary prevention of CVD,” the authors write. However, they note that margarine used to contain substantial amounts of trans fats, which has changed. Trans fats have been shown to be harmful and increase risk of heart disease. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration ban on trans fats took effect in 2018.

Extra virgin olive oil may have some properties that help lower the risk of stroke, according to the authors. It would be worthwhile for follow-up research to examine the associations of specific types of olive oil consumption.

Why Should You Use Olive Oil?

1. It lowers cholesterol. It protects you from heart disease.
2. It Can Lower Blood Pressure
3. It Fills You Up
4. It Can Help Your Bones
5. It Can Help Digestion
6. It Can Improve Your Diet Plan
7. It Can Improve Your Skin
8. It Can Help Your Hair
9. It Can Curb Your Appetite

What Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil?

Which olive oil should be considered Extra Virgin Olive Oil? It should have the following properties to be extra virgin.

• It has to be unrefined
• It has to contain no more than 1 percent oleic acid
• It has to be produced only through cold pressing
• It cannot be chemically modified
• It has to be reviewed and approved by international standards

This observational study does not show cause-and-effect relationships. But the findings confirm existing research that shows healthy fats play a role in preventing heart disease, the authors conclude.