AVOID ALZHEIMER’S WITH A DAILY DOSE OF OLIVE OIL?
You’re getting news about coronavirus from all sides, so you don’t need anything more from me. Thus, this week I’ve decided to write about something more optimistic: The amazing benefits of olive oil including the possibility it can delay or reverse Alzheimer’s.
You already know that that one of the benefits of following the Mediterranean diet is it’s generous use of olive oil. Extra-virgin olive oil is especially healthy. It’s pressed mechanically from ripe olives and processed without high heat or chemical solvents. This protects chemicals in the oil including the phenol oleocanthal, which has strong anti-inflammatory properties.
Oleocanthal
Here’s what the National Institutes of Health has to say about it in the May 2018 article The Biological Activities of Oleocanthal from a Molecular Perspective by Kok-Lun Pang and Kok-Yong Chin:
Olive oil is the main source of dietary fat in the Mediterranean diet. The daily intake of olive oil in Mediterranean populations is estimated to be 30–50 ml. A high dietary intake of olive oil is associated with lower incidences of cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic diseases, Alzheimer’s disease and osteoporosis.
Olive oil and its phenolic compounds are known to possess biological activities, including antioxidant, anti-inflammation, anticancer and anti-diabetic activities. Virgin olive oil diet has been demonstrated to reduce oxidative stress and inflammation in human studies. Virgin olive oil possesses several biological activities not shared by other vegetable oils.
Neurological studies focused on the effects of the phenol oleocanthal against Alzheimer’s disease. Oleocanthal improved clearance of the amyloid beta protein from neurons and reduced the inflammation of astrocytes. For instance, it was reported that daily intake of extra virgin olive oil for six months improved synaptic integrity and lowered insoluble protein aggregation in a rat model of Alzheimer’s disease.
Oleocanthal as a Therapeutic Molecule
And here’s more good news from Dr. Amal Kaddoumi of Auburn University in the November 2018 article Fight Alzheimer’s disease with olive oil, Auburn University researcher says:
“We are very excited about our findings with oleocanthal, which demonstrated several positive effects against Alzheimer’s in mice that express the disease, such as enhancing the blood-brain barrier function and reducing the formation of amyloid-beta plaques and neuroinflammation, all of which are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s,” said Kaddoumi. “We are optimistic about the impact of oleocanthal on reducing the risk of developing mild cognitive impairment, a stage that precedes Alzheimer’s, and on reducing the progression from mild cognitive impairment to Alzheimer’s. As an outcome of this project, we hope the findings will support advancing the therapeutic development of oleocanthal in clinical trials.”
“According to our findings with extra-virgin olive oil, this observed positive effect could be attributed to the oleocanthal compound, which suggests the consumption of extra-virgin olive oil could be beneficial to protect memory and learning ability,” said Kaddoumi. “We are working on the development of oleocanthal as a therapeutic molecule to prevent, slow, and/or hold the progression of Alzheimer’s.”
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Make sure you buy extra virgin olive oil. In addition, I’ve read that you should only buy California-made extra-virgin oil because California is the only state that has standardized testing to insure it’s quality and potency.
Here’s your simple recipe for possibly beating Alzheimer’s: Just swig 1 to 2 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil daily!
NEWS I’ve begun making a series of YouTube videos. My channel name is Generation Fit! Senior Fitness and I’ll be covering the same topics as this Generation Fit blog. My first segment is titled Senior Fitness in Coronavirus Time which is pretty much a video version of my March 19th blog post Exercising in the Time of Coronavirus. (It’s my first try at YouTube and is rather amateurish, but I think the videos will get better as I go along.) Check it out!