Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil could help protect your bones in later life claims a Spanish study. Mediterranean style diet is the one that is rich in fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains supplemented and healthy fats such as those found in olive oil.
The new study shows benefits of Mediterranean style diet to bones as people eating more olive oil had higher levels of the hormone osteocalcin in their blood, which is a significant marker linked to better bone strength. Age-related bone mass loss and decreased bone strength affects women and men similarly, and are significant determinants of the risk of osteoporosis and fractures.
Osteoporosis is frequently considered as silent disease because it did not show symptoms prior to a fracture. But, once a person has broken a bone, their risk of breaking another bone increases dramatically. In study nearly one-hundred-thirty people aged fifty-five to eighty those participated in the Prevencion con Dieta Mediterranea (PREDIMED) study, were randomly selected.
They were arbitrarily assigned to three different diets such as Mediterranean diet with mixed nuts, Mediterranean diet with at least fifty ml of virgin olive oil a day, and a low-fat diet. The study findings after two years of follow up showed that people on the Mediterranean diet with olive oil had a significant increase in concentrations of osteocalcinin their blood.
In addition to that people on Mediterranean diet with olive oil also had other bone formation markers in the blood, but, no other diet had shown the same effect. lead researcher Dr Jose Manuel Fernandez-Real, from Hospital Dr Josep Trueta in Girona, Spain, explained this is the first randomized study which demonstrates that olive oil preserves bone, at least as inferred by circulating bone markers, in humans.
It is important to note that circulating osteocalcin was associated with preserved insulin secretion in subjects taking olive oil. Osteocalcin has also been described to increase insulin secretion in experimental models, added Dr Fernandez-Real. Olive oil contains omega-6 fats, a form of healthy polyunsaturates which blocks the body’s response to inflammation in chronic conditions such as heart disease and arthritis.
It also reduces blood pressure and improves the ratio of good to bad blood fats. The study was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.