Olive oil can help in keeping the heart healthy. A research by scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine states that a common dietary fat found in olive oil acts as a lubricant and helps the heart pump blood in an easier way.
The study, conducted on rats, found that oleate, a common dietary fat found in olive oil, restores proper metabolism of fuel that gets disturbed in case of heart failure, the researchers explained.
"This gives more proof to the idea that consuming healthy fats like oleate can have a significantly positive effect on cardiac health even after the disease has begun," senior study author E. Douglas Lewandowski from the University of Illinois - Chicago, said in a press release.
It is difficult for weak hearts to process or store the fats they use for fuel, which are contained within tiny droplets called lipid bodies in heart muscle cells. This in turn leads the muscle to become starved of energy.
Researchers explained that the fats that are not metabolized by the heart break down into toxic intermediary by-products that further contribute to heart disease.
Oleate also helps restore the activation of several genes for enzymes that metabolize fat. These genes are often suppressed in hyper-trophic hearts," Lewandowski said.
"The fact that we can restore beneficial gene expression, as well as more balanced fat metabolism, plus reduce toxic fat metabolites, just by supplying hearts with oleate - a common dietary fat - is a very exciting finding," Lewandowski pointed out.
Researchers examined the way healthy and failing rat hearts reacted to being supplied with either oleate or palmitate, fats associated with the Western diet and found in dairy products, animal fats and palm oil.
The team saw a significant improvement in the pumping of the hearts of rats which were administered oleate.
The findings were published in the journal Circulation.
