extra virgin olive oil Archives - Amazing Health Advances

The Effect of Avocados on Small, Dense, LDL Cholesterol

AHA Publisher — Thu, 19 Aug 2021 07:00:34 +0000

Michael Greger M.D. FACLM via Nutrition Facts – What are the effects of oatmeal, walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, and avocados on LDL cholesterol size? When a headline reads “Avocados could improve your cholesterol—and more,” the article and others like it are largely talking about substitution experiments, where avocado is added to the diet as a replacement for animal fats. In that case, it’s no wonder cholesterol goes down. Dairy and poultry are the two greatest contributors of cholesterol-raising saturated fat intake, so if you take people eating a standard North American diet including animal fats, they may start out with an LDL cholesterol level up around 95mg/dl. If you add avocado to their diet without doing anything else, their cholesterol does not go down; instead, it may go up to around 105mg/dl. If you add avocado while reducing saturated fat intake, though, cholesterol falls to about 90mg/dl—but that drop isn’t very different from what you’d get by just reducing saturated fat and adding nothing, which was shown to give an LDL under 90mg/dl, as you can see at 0:34 in my video Avocados Lower Small Dense LDL Cholesterol. What if you compared the effects of eating no meat at all with a meat-free diet that included avocado? Researchers took people with sky-high cholesterol levels up around 300mg/dl and switched them to either a relatively low-fat vegetarian diet with about 20 percent of calories from fat or a vegetarian diet with added avocado that took it up about 30 percent of calories from fat, which is a more typical fat content. As you can see at 1:22 in my video, the study participants started out with LDLs through the roof, and, while cutting out meat may have helped, cutting out meat and adding avocado seemed to help even more—and it may help best with the worst type of LDL. As I’ve touched on before, all LDL cholesterol is bad cholesterol. However, large, fluffy LDL may only increase the odds of cardiac events such as heart attacks by 31 percent, whereas small, dense LDL is even worse and increases the odds by 44 percent. If you feed people a lot of oatmeal and oat bran, not only does that cause their LDL to go down overall, but it specifically brings down the small LDL, the worst of the worst. What happens if you add walnuts to a low-fat diet? As you can see at 2:04 in my video, LDL goes down and, at the same time, the size distribution of the LDL shifts to be a little more benign. What if you put people on a plant-based diet with lots of fiber and nuts? As shown as 2:15 in my video, you can get a massive 30 percent drop in LDL, a drop that is comparable to a cholesterol-lowering statin drug. What’s more, this includes a drop in the small, dense LDL, which is the most dangerous. This does not happen with extra-virgin olive oil, however, so it’s not just a monounsaturated fat effect. In the famous PREDIMED study, which you can see at 2:35 in my video, those randomized to the extra nuts group got a significant drop in the smallest, densest LDL, but those randomized to the extra-virgin olive oil group did not. So, there appears to be some special components in nuts that lowers the worst of the worst LDL cholesterol. Do avocados offer similar benefits? We didn’t know until the first randomized controlled feeding trial to look at avocados and LDL size. The researchers removed animal fat from people’s diet and replaced it with either carbohydrates, avocado, or vegetable oils that had a similar fat profile to the avocados. In this way, the avocado group and the vegetable oil group were put on very similar diets, except one had the nutrients unique to avocados and the other did not. What happened? Any time you lower intake of saturated fat, such as replacing animal fat with plant fat (vegetable oil in this case) or carbohydrates, you’re going to bring down LDL. Okay, but does replacing animal fat with the whole plant food avocado make a difference? Yes. That resulted in an even better effect. To see why, the researchers broke the LDL down into large versus small. All three treatments brought down the dangerous large LDL, but the avocado had the additional effect of also bringing down the super dangerous small LDL. That’s where that extra drop came from. You can see a graph depicting these findings at 3:27 in my video. So, it’s not just a matter of replacing animal fat with plant fat. There are additional benefits to the fiber and phytonutrients of whole plant foods like avocados. If there’s something good in avocados, should we just add avocado extracts to meat? Well, incorporating avocado extracts into pork patties evidently reduces the meat’s cholesterol oxidation products that “have been well documented” to be toxic, carcinogenic, and atherosclerotic, but it doesn’t eliminate them. KEY TAKEAWAYS Dairy and poultry are two of the most significant contributors of cholesterol-raising saturated fat in the diet. Simply adding avocado to the diet without also reducing saturated fat intake does not appear to lower cholesterol and, in fact, may cause it to rise. Substitution experiments, where avocado replaces animal fats in the diet, have shown improvements in cholesterol, however, the drop does not appear to differ much from just reducing saturated fat consumption without adding anything else. Comparing the effects of a meat-free diet to a meat-free diet with added avocado, researchers found that eschewing meat while also adding avocado helped even more than merely skipping meat, and it may help more effectively with the worst type of bad LDL cholesterol, small, dense LDL. Oatmeal, oat bran, walnuts, and a plant-based diet rich in fiber and nuts have all been shown to cause LDL to lower overall and the more dangerous, small LDL, specifically, but this was not seen with extra-virgin olive oil, suggesting it is not only a monounsaturated fat effect. Researchers removed animal fat from subjects’ diets and replaced it with either carbohydrates, avocado, or vegetable oils with similar fat profiles to avocados and found that replacing the animal fat with the whole plant food avocado had the best results in reducing LDL. All three treatments lowered large LDL, but avocado had the added effect of also lowering the more dangerous small LDL. To read the original article click here.

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Amazing Science-Backed Benefits of Oleocanthal

AHA Publisher — Tue, 03 Aug 2021 07:00:55 +0000

Dr. Don Colbert – We all know that extra virgin olive oil is good for us. But what if most benefits of the Mediterranean Diet and olive oil are from a specific component of the oil? What if most of the olive oils sold in the United States don’t contain it? Does your olive oil measure up? Introducing the benefits of oleocanthal. Here’s what it is, what it does in the human body, and how to get yours today. What Is Oleocanthal? Oleocanthal (OC) is one of many phenols found in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), and it is also known as deacetoxy-ligstroside aglycon. It was first identified as a minor phenolic compound in olives in 1993 (1). The amount of oleocanthal in EVOO varies due to the varieties of olives and different regions in which they are grown. Unfortunately, many commercial EVOO contains negligible or no-detectable OC(2). While all EVOO’s phenols are beneficial, it’s OC that produces amazing results. In fact, the benefits of oleocanthal range from supporting brain health to reducing inflammation to inhibiting the overgrowth of harmful cells. Science-Backed Benefits of Oleocanthal Most of the health benefits of OC are due to its potent anti-inflammatory and antioxidant actions. Oleocathal’s anti-inflammatory properties were first described in 2005 (3). At that time, scientists believed OC’s anti-inflammatory strength was similar to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAID) like ibuprofen (4). In fact, OC provides anti-inflammatory benefits by inhibiting inflammatory enzymes called cyclooxygenase enzymes COX-1 and COX-2 in lab studies. These enzymes are part of the reaction that converts arachidonic acid into inflammatory prostaglandins and thromboxane (5,6). OC’s anti-inflammatory effects are dose-dependent. Amazingly, oleocanthal is as strong, or even stronger, than ibuprofen (5,7,8). A 2005 lab study reported that oleocanthal inhibited 41–57% of COX activity while the same amount of ibuprofen inhibited only 13–18% COX activity (5). And, oleocanthal does even more. Oleocanthal and Brain Health Recent animal studies indicate that OC supports brain health while we age and slows degeneration. How? OC disrupts β-amyloid oligomerization (synthesis) and protects against neurodegeneration (9). What’s more, OC inhibits proteins’ fibrillization, which can occur in degeneration (10, 11). In addition, OC promotes amyloid clearance by inducing gene expression of transport proteins. This is hugely beneficial in supporting brain health (12, 13). Oleocanthal and Healthy Cells The Mediterranean diet and olive oil consumption are specifically linked to better overall health and reduction in cell overgrowth (14, 15). Analyses have found that supplementing high-oleocanthal olive oil results in lower cell-overgrowth prevalence (16) and less-invasive cells (17). In fact, researchers have not found that OC specifically fights harmful cells’ lysosomes, causing cellular toxicity and death both in lab and animal studies as needed (18). Oleocanthal and Heart Health It’s widely accepted that olive oil is great for your heart. Studies results show the benefits of OC include healthy hearts. One study found that consuming oleocanthal for one week increased antiplatelet effects and aggregation in healthy men. This supports heart health and healthy blood flow (19). Another study tested 3 different varying concentrations of OC consumption on healthy men. Each consumed oleocanthal at random for one week. Researchers assessed the effect on platelet function 2 hours after ingestion. Concentrated OC significantly inhibited platelet aggregation, while those consuming olive oil with no oleocanthal did not show the same benefit. Interestingly, the latter oil still had the same total amount of phenols, mainly in the form of free tyrosol (20). Oleocanthal and Joint Health As described above, oleocanthal is a potent COX enzyme inhibitor. This is great news for those with stiff or inflamed joints. Not only does OC disrupt the production of inflammatory prostaglandins, but it also suppresses lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced nitric oxide (NO) production. These actions inhibit nitric oxide synthase gene expression (21). Nitric oxide is a key facet of joint inflammation. OC is a potent natural compound that can support healthy joints (13). How to Get Enough Oleocanthal It can be difficult to consume oleocanthal and receive the benefits of oleocanthal from modern olive oil. In fact, most commercial varieties don’t contain any detectable amounts. Luckily, you can now get a cost-effective, convenient form of concentrated oleocanthal. Introducing Dr. Colbert’s Oleocanthal Our supplement line has expanded to include this amazing antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound. Introducing Dr. Colbert’s Oleocanthal (Powerful Antioxidant Concentrated from High-Phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil)! This powerful supplement contains 2250 milligrams of oleocanthal per serving in an easy-to-take form. It’s been formulated specifically to support brain, heart, and whole-body health. Get yours today! Bottom Line Looking to support your brain health? Heart health? Joint-health? Whole-body health? Oleocanthal is an amazing compound ready to do it all. If you don’t have a trusted source of proven high-oleocanthal extra-virgin olive oil, get Dr. Colbert’s Oleocanthal (Powerful Antioxidant Concentrated from High-Phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil) today! To read the original article click here. For more articles from Dr. Colbert click here.

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