cron-web.org

[A1CR]

http://tinyurl.com/y3ao9h is the URL to view the citations
and abstracts of
the October, 2006 Supplement of Nutrition Reviews. Below
are citations
(1-6), a Foreword and excerpts from a paper on the roles that
monounsaturated fatty acids and olive oil may play in heart
disease and
aging, it seems. Might olive oil and monounsaturated fatty
acids be
CRON-friendly?

1. Foreword.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10, pS1-S1, 1p
Francisco Perez-Jimenez, Guest Editor

The Mediterranean diet represents a healthy nutritional
model that is based on a high intake of plant foods
(fruits, nuts, fresh vegetables, cereals, and legumes), a
moderate intake of fish, wine, yogurt, and cheese, and a
low intake of meat and sugar-based foods. Its more
emblematic and unifying food is virgin olive oil, the
main contributor to the relatively high content of fat in
this diet. A diet enriched in certain fats may thus be
compatible with overall health. This feature is the principal
difference between the Mediterranean diet and
other healthy diets, which are more often based on low
fat contents.

Traditionally, olive oil has been the only dietary fat
containing primarily monounsaturated fat (oleic acid) in
its composition. However, today, other edible oils contain
fatty acid compositions similar to that of olive oil;
for example, high-oleic sunflower oil and rapeseed oil.
>From a macronutrient perspective, all of these oils have
a high level of oleic acid, but olive oil is unique in that
it is technically a fruit juice. Therefore, its composition
includes not only fat but also other nutritional components
that are not present in any other edible oil. These
components may provide the olive oil with its unique
nutritional value and health attributes, and include several
hundreds of non-fatty micronutrients such as
squalene, vitamins, and antioxidants. To understand the
difference between the other most commonly consumed
oils and olive oil, it is important to realize that the latter
can be consumed directly, after its extraction by a cold
processing method, while other oils must be obtained
through complex physical and chemical methods that
include high temperature and chemical treatments, resulting
in partial or total loss of many micronutrients and
vitamins.

The best known benefits associated with the Mediterranean
diet, which is rich in olive oil, are the decrease
in plasma low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels
and the improvement in the ratio of LDL to high density
lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. In view of the
available scientific evidence, the US Food and Drug
Administration announced in November 2004 the availability
of a qualified health claim for monounsaturated
fat from olive oil and reduced risk of coronary heart
disease. However, the evidence accumulating more recently
suggests that the Mediterranean diet may also
provide additional benefits by acting on other classical
and novel cardiovascular risk factors implicated in the
development of atherosclerosis. Whereas some of these
effects could still be explained by the presence of
monounsaturated
fats, others are more likely due to other
minor components having antioxidant properties, chemopreventive
activity, and the capacity to improve vascular
function.

The papers included in this supplement provide
state-of-the-art information regarding the relationship
between the consumption of olive oil within the context
of a Mediterranean diet and lifestyle and lower prevalence
of major chronic diseases that currently afflict
much of the Western world.

2. López-Miranda, Jose; Badimon, Lina; Bonanome, Andrea;
Lairon, Denis;
Kris-Etherton, Penny M.; Mata, Pedro; Pérez-Jiménez, Francisco
Monounsaturated Fat and Cardiovascular Risk.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10,
pS2-S12, 11p
http://tinyurl.com/y9cdwt

On the basis of the information discussed in this
review, we can conclude that the effects of a high
intake of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) from
olive oil include a wide range of healthy benefits
beyond improvement in cholesterol levels, suggesting
that this type of diet has great potential in preventing
cardiovascular disease. MUFA-enriched diets reduce
insulin requirements and decrease plasma concentrations
of glucose and insulin in type 2 diabetic patients,
unlike high-saturated fatty acid and low-fat, high-carbohydrate
diets. Moreover, some data show that
this dietary model could have a hypotensive effect.

There is also substantial evidence that oleic-enriched
low-density lipoprotein (LDL) is more resistant to
oxidative modifications and that dietary MUFA may
influence various components and functions related to
the endothelium. These include endothelium-dependent
vasodilatation and a reduced capacity of oleicenriched
LDL to promote the adhesion and chemotaxis
of monocytes. On the other hand, a MUFA diet
decreases the prothrombotic environment, modifying
platelet adhesion, coagulation, and fibrinolysis. Its
reducing effect on PAI-1 plasma levels is of particular
relevance. This wide range of anti-atherogenic effects
could explain the low rate of cardiovascular mortality
found in Mediterranean countries, where there is a
moderate to high supply of dietary MUFA. Future
studies need to focus on uncovering the mechanisms
by which the Mediterranean diet exerts its beneficial
effects.

3. Trichopoulou, Antonia; Corella, Dolores;
Martínez-González, Miguel A.;
Soriguer, Federico; Ordovas, Jose M.
The Mediterranean Diet and Cardiovascular Epidemiology.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10,
pS13-S19, 7p


4. Covas, María-Isabel; Ruiz-Gutiérrez, Valentina; De La
Torre, Rafael;
Kafatos, Anthony; Lamuela-Raventós, Rosa M.; Osada, Jesús;
Owen, Robert W.;
Visioli, Francesco
Minor Components of Olive Oil: Evidence to Date of Health
Benefits in
Humans.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10,
pS20-S30, 11p


5. Quiles, José L.; Barja, Gustavo; Battino, Maurizio;
Mataix, José;
Solfrizzi, Vincenzo
Role of Olive Oil and Monounsaturated Fatty Acids in
Mitochondrial Oxidative
Stress and Aging.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10,
pS31-S39, 9p


.... The impact of the diet
and dietary components on aging and age-associated
degenerative diseases has become widely recognized in
recent years.14 However, most studies on this subject
have focused on the effect of caloric restriction or antioxidant
nutrient supplementation.14,15 In spite of the fact
that dietary lipids modulate the membrane lipid profile
and peroxidation rate,16 their effects on aging have been
only partially studied. Studies have focused primarily on
short-term treatments based on n-3 polyunsaturated fatty
acids (PUFA).17

... SUMMARY

Nutritional factors may play a role in the etiology of
chronic diseases and probably in longevity. Important
evidence suggests that olive oil plays a role in the
prevention of coronary artery disease, several types of
cancer, and high blood pressure. During the past 15
years, we have accumulated a good deal of evidence on
the effectiveness of dietary virgin olive oil in strengthening
membranes by increasing their resistance to free
radical-induced modifications following xenobiotic uptake,
physical training, and the ingestion of fried fats.
Unsaturated fatty acids are the cellular macromolecules
most sensitive to oxygen radical damage due to the
presence of highly unstable electrons near their double
bonds. A low level of fatty acid unsaturation decreases
cellular oxidative stress.

Detailed studies have shown that the degree of fatty
acid unsaturation of mammalian tissues is negatively
correlated with maximum longevity, and that virgin olive
oil may attenuate oxidative stress related to aging. High
MUFA intake has been significantly associated with
better cognitive performance over time. This evidence
confirms very recent findings showing that high intake of
monounsaturated fatty acids may protect against Alzheimer's
disease, whereas intake of saturated or transunsaturated
fats may increase risk. On the other hand, in
a recent study, higher monounsaturated fatty acid intake
was associated with increased survival, and a higher ratio
of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids increased
total mortality only marginally, while no effects
of other selected food groups were found. ...

6. Escrich, Eduard; Ramírez-Tortosa, M. Carmen;
Sánchez-Rovira, Pedro;
Colomer, Ramon; Solanas, Montserrat; Gaforio, José Juan
Olive Oil in Cancer Prevention and Progression.
Nutrition Reviews, Oct2006 Part 2, Vol. 64 Issue 10,
pS40-S52, 13p