Olive oil high in phenolic compounds turned down genes for inflammation in a group of volunteers.
Health conscious consumers have long known that virgin olive oil is a good choice when it comes to preparing meals and dipping breads. Now, a team of researchers, including one with the Agricultural Research Service (ARS), has found that phenolic components in olive oil actually modify genes that are involved in the inflammatory response.
The researchers knew from other studies that consuming high-phenolic-content virgin olive oil reduces pro-inflammatory, pro-oxidant and pro-blood-clotting biomarkers when compared with consuming low-phenolic-content olive oil. But they wanted to know whether olive oil’s beneficial effects could be the result of gene activity.
Use of low phenolic olive oil controls for the fat content and suggests that phenolic compounds deliver at least some of the health benefits from consuming olive oil.
Some of the turned down genes are linked to obesity. Would high phenolic olive oil reduce weight gain?
One of the experimental breakfasts contained virgin olive oil with high-content phenolic compounds (398 parts per million) and the other breakfast contained olive oil with low-content phenolic compounds (70 parts per million). All volunteers consumed the same low-fat, carbohydrate rich “background” diet during both study phases.
The researchers tracked the expression of more than 15,000 human genes in blood cells during the after-meal period. The results indicated that 79 genes are turned down and 19 are turned up by the high-phenolic-content olive oil. Many of those genes have been linked to obesity, high blood-fat levels, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Importantly, several of the turned-down genes are known promoters of inflammation, so those genes may be involved in “cooling off” inflammation that often accompanies metabolic syndrome.
I'm thinking whole olives would deliver a bigger benefit since the ratio of phenolics to oil would likely be higher in whole olives.
Anyone know whether phenolics are stable in the presence of the oil that is used to turn some olives black?
| Share | | Randall Parker, 2010 June 30 11:20 PM Aging Diet Metabolism |
According to the Phenol-Explorer (http://www.phenol-explorer.eu/contents/total?compound_id=674), olives contain nearly 100X by weight of the amount of the major olive polyphenol (hydroxytyrosol) cited in the paper.
Also, 100g of black olives contain about 100 calories, while 100g of olive oil contains over 800 calories.
Sounds like olives may be a better choice if it is actually the polyphenol content that is responsible for modulatint the anti-inflammatory genes.
Totally anecdotal account follows.
Last year I went on a cruise with my wife. There was a nearly 80 year old gent who became the life of the ship - unbelievably funny, active and agile albeit overweight. When his wife was interviewed, she was asked "what is your husband's favorite condiment"? To which she answered "ummm - It's not a condiment, but he is eating olives constantly." When he showed up a minute later, he was asked the same question, and said "I love olives - eat em by the handsfull".
Yep, not science, but I learn a lot by paying attention to outliers. Now I eat olives. Nice fruit.
After reading this post, I think I will try eating more olives. For years I have had a bit of arthritis that was originally triggered by an auto-immune reaction to something I had eaten. It was crippling at the time, but eventually regressed to an annoyance that comes and goes in varying degrees. If olives can make it go away, or even just regress further, great. If not, I will have enjoyed eating them anyway. Mmm, olives!
(And I'll comment here at some point in the future on whether or not they "worked.")
I read this, and the USDA report that's linked, but I'm a little confused: Is some olive oil naturally high in the phenolic compounds, and other types are lower? Or if I consume extra virgin olive oil generally, can I be assured of getting high quantities?
I'm going to make like Popeye and eat Olive Oil.
I would like to mirror Mattman's question: What is the olive oil with the highest phenolic compounds? Or are all of trhe extra-virgin olive oils good???
Sandra, July 2,2010 300pm
Sandra V, Mattman,
Yes, extra virgin olive oil does contain more phenols.
Extra virgin and olive oils had a nearly identical fatty acid composition but differed in phenolic content, with respective total phenol amounts of 607 ppm and 16 ppm.
Another journal article reporting very large differences between regular and extra virgin olive oil:
Patients with peripheral vascular disease (Fontaine stage II) are characterized by ischemia of the lower extremities, atherosclerosis and alteration of blood coagulation and fibrinolysis. A randomized, two-period, crossover design was used to compare the effects of extra-virgin (VO) and refined olive (RO) oils on plasma lipids and lipoprotein composition and LDL oxidation susceptibility in free-living men with peripheral vascular disease. The oils differed in their antioxidant profile ({alpha}-tocopherol: 300 vs. 200 mg/kg; phenolic compounds 800 vs. 60) and concentration but not in their fatty acid composition.
But many factors influence phenolic concentration in olive oils.
In this review we summarize these different methodologies and demonstrate that the amount of phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil as determined by both traditional and high resolution techniques can be influenced by different factors including the olive cultivar and degree of ripeness, as well as by production and extraction technologies.
I am thinking the safest bet is whole olives. Lou Pagnucco supplies the numbers above. Thanks Lou.
It is exposure to air (oxygen) that turns the olives black- my quick search couldn't turn up the reactions/relevant olive molecules. I live in an olive producing community and have a couple acres of olive trees and put up my own olives. As with just about everything I recommend eating the whole product when you can. (shall we argue about the amount of fructose in olives?)
A first pressing of oil is naturally going to contain a greater concentration of the smaller molecules- esters, etc. Most of the commercial presses here have presses that completely destroy the pit. I have always wondered just what types of compounds that contributes to the quality of the oil.
don't forget absorbtion in the gut - I think it's harder for the gut to get any benefit from whole olives