A study conducted by the University of Minnesota Medical School has discovered a link between the olive oil in the Mediterranean Diet and how it influences ageing-related diseases, according to Insider.
The team of researchers was led by Doug Mashek, a professor in the Departments of Medicine and Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biophysics. They discovered that olive oil in the Mediterranean diet may hold the key to improving lifespan and mitigating ageing-related diseases.
Initially, it was suggested that red wine was a major contributor to the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, due to it containing a compound called resveratrol, which activated a certain pathway in cells known to increase lifespan. However, the research has strongly suggested that it is the fat in olive oil, that no Mediterranean diet would be without, that is activating the pathway.
Sadly, consuming all the olive oil you can is not enough alone to give all the health benefits. His team’s studies suggest that when coupled with fasting, limiting caloric intake and exercising, the effects of consuming olive oil will be most pronounced.
“We found that the way this fat works is it first has to get stored in microscopic things called lipid droplets, which is how our cells store fat. And then, when the fat is broken down during exercising or fasting, for example, is when the signalling and beneficial effects are realised,” Mashek said.
The next steps for their research are to translate it to humans to discover new drugs or to further tailor dietary regimens that improve health, both short-term and long-term.
“We want to understand the biology, and then translate it to humans, hopefully changing the paradigm of healthcare from someone going to eight different doctors to treat his or her eight different disorders,” Mashek said. “These are all ageing-related diseases, so let’s treat ageing.”
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