Adding olive oil to your salad containing lettuce helps keep hypertension and high blood pressure at bay, a new study finds.
Previous studies have highlighted the health benefits olive oil offers. Chefs and health experts often recommend using olive oil to cook your food to ensure a healthier diet. A new study found that this unsaturated fat not only keeps you healthy physically, but also mentally.
Researchers from King's College London found that adding olive oil to nitrite-rich vegetables, usually used in salads, reduces the risk of hypertension. This finding also explains why many studies have said that a Mediterranean diet can reduce blood pressure. This diet form generally includes olive oil and vegetables like spinach, celery and carrots that are rich in nitrites and nitrates.
The unsaturated fatty acids react with nitrogen compounds in the vegetables to form what is known as nitro fatty acids. The current study looked into how these nitro fatty acids lower blood pressure and whether they inhibit an enzyme known as soluble Epoxide Hydrolase which regulates blood pressure. The study was conducted on a group of mice. Researchers noted that genetically engineered mice that were capable of resisting this inhibitory process had high blood pressure despite being fed the type of nitro fatty acids that normally form when a Mediterranean diet is consumed. However, nitro fatty acids were found to lower the blood pressure of normal mice following the same diets.
"The findings of our study help to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attacks," study author Professor Philip Eaton, Professor of Cardiovascular Biochemistry at King's College London, said in a press statement.
The benefits of following a Mediterranean diet are several. Last year, Loyola University researchers found that women who follow a Mediterranean-style diet high in vegetables, vegetable oils, fish and beans may increase their chances of becoming pregnant. Another study found that diabetic patients can benefit most by adopting a Mediterranean diet. They should skip breakfast and eat one big meal a day instead of smaller meals throughout the day.
The current study was supported by the British Heart Foundation and published online in the journal PNAS.
