Med Diet Linked With Better Sleep

A new study from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) followed a group of 503 students from the University of Sharjah for 5 months, and had them fill out standard questionnaires about diet and sleep patterns. They found that 2/3 of those that reported good sleep patterns also adhered to the Mediterranean diet. More research needs to be done because there are many factors that affect sleep patterns, but they did feel the Med Diet improved the chances of better sleep.

Poor sleep is partly caused by increased inflammation brought on by cytokines. The Med Diet, including its large intake of extra virgin olive oil, is largely anti-inflammatory – which is why it is believed to improve sleep. The Med DIet is also rich in fruits and vegetables containing melatonin, the hormone that is known to improve sleep quality. In addition, they found that those with the sleep pattern of waking early and going to bed early had better sleep quality. This happily agrees with Benjamin Franklin’s aphorism, ‘Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.”

Research shows olive oil can reduce harmful blood clots

Researchers at Tornoto’s Keenan Research Center found that olive oil can help reduce the formation of harmful blood clots in mice. It does this by promoting Apolipoprotein A-IV which is an important component of HDL, the good cholesterol. This component prevents blood platelets from sticking together unnecessarily. This particular protein is low in people with a risk of cardiovascular disease and high in those with less risk. Some clotting to prevent bleeding but not so much as to create a blood clot. Good levels of  Apolipoprotein help reach this ideal level and olive oil supports its formation.

Extra virgin olive oil contains oleocanthal as one of its main polyphenols – the one that can cause a burning sensation in the back of the throat. Researchers from the University of Monroe-Louisiana conducted a study that found oleocanthal had a modulating effect on an important part of the immune system, called C3AR1. Unfortunately, if C3AR1 becomes overactive, it causes inflammation in the brain that can lead to Alzheimer’s. Oleocanthal helps reduce this over activity and maintain the normal activity of C3AR1. This is just another reason to consume real extra virgin olive oil.

A new study done by Yale University showed that olive oil rich in polyphenols improved endothelial function while refined olive oil did not. The conclusion was that the biophenols found in real extra virgin olive oil, but not found in refined olive oil, were responsible for the improvement. Endothelial function is the measure of how well blood flows through the vessels, and is an independent predictor of cardiovascular health and type 2 diabetes.

The study took 20 obese people, all with high blood pressure, and gave 3 tablespoons of extra virigin olive oil to half of them and 3 tablespoons of refined olive oil to the other half. After one week their systems were flushed and the groups were reversed. Neither the participants nor the conductors of the study knew who was getting the extra virgin olive oil. After the study the results showed that the endothelial function improved for both groups when taking the real extra virgin olive oil.

From the study:

“Our study demonstrated that a single dose of 50 milliliters of high-polyphenolic extra virgin olive oil, when compared with refined olive oil without polyphenols, was associated with endothelial function improvement among individuals at risk for type 2 diabetes mellitus”.

“The acute effects of extra virgin olive oil on endothelial function observed may be explained by differences in the composition of extra virgin olive oil and refined olive oils”.

America’s National Cancer Institute (NCI) has just acknowledged oleocanthal as potentially medicinal for a certain type of breast cancer (TNBC), and has awarded a grant for researchers at Oleolive to develop the phenolic compound as a functional food in the prevention of breast cancer.

Oleocanthal derives from extra virgin olive oil cultivated to have the highest possible phenolic content. With our specialized milling equipment and small, hands-on operation, the polyphenols of all of the Apollo Olive Oils range between 350 and 520 ppm, which is considered very high. On our website, you can find the level of polyphenols in the detailed description of each of our oils. Very few olive oil producers can proudly publish the polyphenol levels of their oils.

As noted in the Oleolive website white paper, the many recent studies about the various health benefits of the polyphenols in real Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) have led to a recommendation of consuming about 2 tablespoons of real extra virgin olive oil daily.