Groundbreaking research from Temple University in Philadelphia has revealed that consuming extra virgin olive oil that is high in phenolic compounds during early adulthood can protect against dementia.
The results of the research– conducted by five scientists from Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine and the Department of Medico-Surgical Sciences and Biotechnology at Sapienza University of Rome– reveal that extra virgin olive oil consumption delays the onset of cognitive impairment and dementia by slowing down a group of diseases known as taupathies.
According to the results of the research, “Extra virgin olive oil improves synaptic activity, short-term plasticity, memory and neuropathology in a tauopathy model.”
The researchers fed extra virgin olive oil to a group of lab mice engineered to develop dementia and of an age that would be comparable to 30 or 40 years in humans.
The mice who were fed the olive oil diet were 60 percent less likely to develop tau deposits in the brain compared to those who were not given extra virgin olive oil. The same mice also showed improved performance on memory and learning tests.
The study points out that there has been increasing evidence in recent years of the benefits of consuming extra virgin olive oil for brain health and lowering the risks of Alzheimer’s disease, cognitive impairment and dementia.
Previous research conducted by investigators at the same school of medicine had concluded that consumption of extra virgin olive oil prevents memory loss and protects against Alzheimer’s disease.
“Extra virgin olive oil has been a part of the human diet for a very long time and has many benefits for health, for reasons that we do not yet fully understand,” said Dr. Domenico Pratico, director of the Alzheimer’s Center at Temple University’s Lewis Katz School of Medicine and one of the researchers.
“The realization that extra virgin olive oil can protect the brain against different forms of dementia gives us an opportunity to learn more about the mechanisms through which it acts to support brain health,” Pratico said. “We are particularly interested in knowing whether extra virgin olive oil can reverse tau damage and ultimately treat tauopathy in older mice.”
The results of this study suggest that thanks to extra virgin olive oil’s beneficial properties – including high polyphenol content, which acts as an antioxidant – its consumption in early adulthood can limit cognitive decline and the onset of age-related illnesses.
Read more bout high-phenolic extra virgin olive oil here in a recent post by Gregory C. Pappas, who produces his own small batch every year.
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