Consumption of olive oil reduces risk of premature death, study finds – Harvard Gazette

People who consume large amounts of olive oil may lower their risk of premature death overall and from specific causes, including cardiovascular disease, cancer and neurodegenerative diseases, according to a new study led by researchers from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health. The researchers also found that people who consumed olive oil instead of animal fat had a lower risk of total and specific mortality.

The study was published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

This is the first long-term observational study on olive oil consumption and mortality in the United States. Most of the previous olive oil and health research has focused on populations in Europe and the Mediterranean, where olive oil consumption is higher.

“Consumption of olive oil has been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but its association with premature death was unclear,” said Marta Guasch-Ferré, senior researcher in the nutrition department of the Harvard Chan School. “Our results support current dietary recommendations for replacing animal fats with vegetable oils for the prevention of chronic disease and premature death.”

The researchers used health data collected between 1990 and 2018 for 60,582 women in the Nursing Health Study and 31,801 men in the Healthcare Professional Follow-up Study. All participants were free from cardiovascular disease or cancer at the start of the study and completed food questionnaires every four years. During the study period, 36,856 people died.

Participants were asked how often they use olive oil in salad dressings, added to food or bread, or in baking or frying. According to the results, people in the highest category of olive oil consumption (more than seven grams per day) had a 19% lower risk of total and cardiovascular mortality, a lower risk of cancer mortality of 17. %, a 29% lower risk of neurodegenerative mortality, and an 18% lower risk of respiratory mortality compared to those who never or rarely consumed olive oil. The use of olive oil was also associated with a lower risk of total and specific mortality compared to margarine, butter, mayonnaise, and dairy fat.

“Clinicians should advise patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health,” Guasch-Ferré said. “Our study helps make specific recommendations that will be easy for patients to understand and hopefully implement into their diet.”

Other co-authors of the study at Harvard Chan School included Yanping Li, Walter Willett, Jordi Salas-Salvadó, Qi Sun, Laura Sampson, Miguel Martínez-González, Meir Stampfer, and Frank Hu.

Funding for the study comes from research grants from the National Institutes of Health. Guasch-Ferré is supported by a grant from the American Diabetes Association. Salas-Salvadó is partially supported by the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies within the framework of the ICREA Academia program.