Extra virgin olive oil: a great ally against diabetes
Sometime ago we told you in our blog about the study conducted by the Department of Endocrinology and Nutrition at the Carlos Haya Hospital in Malaga on the role of fat in the diet. This demonstrated, among other noteworthy results, that extra virgin olive oil from the PDO Montoro-Adamuz increased sensitivity to insulin.
Today we want to delve a little deeper into the relationship between extra virgin olive oil and the prevention of certain diseases, such as diabetes.
A new result from the PREDIMED Study (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet) has recently been published in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal, which shows that the Mediterranean diet, supplemented with extra virgin olive oil, reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
The research involved 7,447 people, of whom 3,541 did not suffer from diabetes mellitus at the time of their participation. During the almost five years for which the study lasted, they were subjected to annual analyses to check what percentage began to suffer from this disease when following a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil and the results could not have been better: extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of developing diabetes by 40%.
The coordinator of this study, Doctor Ramón Estruch, acknowledges that, although positive results were expected, the great power of extra virgin olive oil to prevent cardiovascular diseases, in this case diabetes, has been a complete surprise.
So much so that a new study, the PREDIMED Plus, has already been planned, through which the possible beneficial effects of extra virgin olive oil in treating people who are obese and overweight will be looked at in more depth.
If the result is positive it would finally banish the idea that extra virgin olive oil “makes people gain weight”, as is commonly thought. According to Doctor Estruch, the aim is to “demonstrate that a well-balanced diet, which includes extra virgin olive oil, can help people to lose weight and partially prevent the appearance of complications such as heart attacks or strokes”.
He also aims to conduct another study to determine whether following the Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil can also contribute to preventing the appearance of certain types of cancer.
With figures as positive as these, we cannot be prouder of contributing to the promotion of such a healthy food as the extra virgin olive oil from the PDO Montoro-Adamuz.