Recent investigations have compared the effect of olive pomace oil with those of sunflower oil and high oleic sunflower oil.
Olive pomace oil is obtained from alperujo, a product made up of the remains of olives that remain after extracting the virgin olive oil. Spain is the world’s leading producer of olive pomace oil, with an average of 120,000 tons per year, of which 85% is exported. This type of oil is characterized by its durability, profitability and neutral taste, and it has a composition rich in oleic acid and bioactive compounds of high nutritional interest.
“When we started this project, only in vitro or preclinical studies had been carried out in experimental animals with some components of olive pomace oil. However, the effect of regular consumption of this oil in people was not known. For this reason, we set out to evaluate the impact of its daily consumption on cardiovascular health and on two associated pathologies such as diabetes and obesity, both in healthy consumers and in people with cardiovascular risk”, explains Laura Bravo Clemente, from the Institute of Science and Food and Nutrition Technology (ICTAN) attached to the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC) in Spain.
With this objective, two randomized, controlled, crossover, and blind intervention clinical studies have been carried out for more than four years in 132 volunteers. “We randomly distributed the participants into two groups to consume olive pomace oil or another oil for four weeks. After this time and after a washing phase, the participants were crossed to consume the other oil for the same time, another four weeks. The studies were blind, so the volunteers were unaware of the oil that we provided them at each stage and that they consumed at a rate of 45 grams per day. Their consumption of other fatty dietary sources was restricted”, explains the CSIC researcher at ICTAN Raquel Mateos Briz. The other oils used were sunflower oil and high oleic sunflower oil, widely used in Spain and other countries.
In three recent investigations, the effect of olive pomace oil has been compared with those of sunflower oil and high oleic sunflower oil. (Photo: Amazings/NCYT)
The results obtained have shown positive effects of regular consumption of olive pomace oil against cardiovascular disease, both in the group of healthy subjects and in the risk group (hypercholesterolemic volunteers). An improvement in the blood lipid profile was observed in the subjects thanks to a decrease in the levels of total cholesterol and low-density lipoproteins (LDL or bad cholesterol). On the other hand, the consumption of olive pomace oil also significantly decreased waist circumference in the two groups analyzed, an essential marker in the evaluation of patients with obesity due to its association with increased cardiometabolic risk, and improved biomarkers related to insulin resistance and sensitivity.
In the case of the group of healthy consumers, the benefit of regular consumption of olive pomace oil was also transferred to the marker of oxidative stress, considered a pathophysiological condition associated with increased cardiovascular risk. Regarding type 2 diabetes mellitus, the results of the study have shown a decrease in insulin levels and in the insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR), associated with a greater risk of developing this disease, improving instead the tissue sensitivity to insulin, which could imply a lower risk of diabetes.
El estudio titulado “Olive pomace oil can improve blood lipid profile: a randomized, blind, crossover, controlled clinical trial in healthy and at-risk volunteers” se publicó en la revista académica European Journal of Nutrition. El titulado “Effect of olive pomace oil on cardiovascular health and associated pathologies”, en la revista académica Nutrients. Y el titulado “Olive pomace oil versus high oleic acid sunflower oil and sunflower oil: a comparative study in healthy and cardiovascular risk humans”, en la revista académica Foods. (Fuente: CSIC)