A new study in theJournal of the American College of Cardiologyfound that consuming more than a half tablespoon of olive oil each day was associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease mortality, cancer mortality, neurodegenerative disease mortality and respiratory disease mortality. Researchers also found that replacing about 10 grams of margarine, butter, mayonnaise or dairy fat with the equivalent amount of olive oil each day was also associated with lower risk of overall mortality.
“Our findings support current dietary recommendations to increase the intake of olive oil and other unsaturated vegetable oils,” Marta Guasch-Ferré, Ph.D., the study’s lead author,said in a news release. “Clinicians should be counseling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health.”
“It’s possible that higher olive oil consumption is a marker of an overall healthier diet and higher socioeconomic status. However, even after adjusting for these and other social-economic status factors, our results remained largely the same,” Guasch-Ferré said.
Is Olive Oil Healthy?
It’s no surprise that olive oil can be such an integral part of a healthy eating pattern—one dietitian has called itthe “mascot” of the Mediterranean diet, which was recently namedthe best diet of 2022. Because olive oil is high inmonounsaturated fatty acids, it can even help you raise the level of “good” cholesterol in your body, which can improve your cholesterol levels overall. Plus, excess amounts of saturated fat can be hard on the heart. Substituting olive oil for mayonnaise or butter, which are higher in saturated fat, can help you lower your saturated fat consumption, and it even hassome anti-inflammatory benefits.
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