Researchers extra virgin olive oil lowers Alzheimer's risk

Extra virgin olive oil can protect against Alzheimer's and prevent cognitive decline
A so-called Mediterranean diet is very healthy and can even increase human life expectancy, prevent heart disease and keep blood sugar levels at a healthy level. Researchers have now discovered that using extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of Alzheimer's disease and prevents cognitive decline.

Researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University (LKSOM) found that extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of Alzheimer's. The physicians published the results of their study in the journal "Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology".

Olive oil is healthy for body and mind. Physicians have now discovered that a diet rich in extra virgin olive oil can protect against Alzheimer's disease. (Image: luigi giordano - fotolia)

Extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of dementia
Earlier study has already shown that taking extra virgin olive oil reduces the risk of developing dementia. The oil protects the memory and gets the ability to learn. In addition, consumption also stops the formation of so-called amyloid beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the human brain, say the experts.

Doctors are studying the Mediterranean diet
The benefits of the Mediterranean diet have been extensively studied before. The current research has now found that not the fruit and vegetable components of the Mediterranean diet protect brain health, but the dietary benefits of olive oil provide the identified benefits, explains Professor Domenico Pratico of the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University.

What is autophagy??
For their study, the researchers used a model with mice. The scientists examined certain processes in the experimental animals. A process called autophagy is responsible for the degradation of defective proteins or damaged cell organelles. Also called amyloid plaques and tau tangles, both characteristic of Alzheimer's disease, are affected by the process.

Effects of consuming extra virgin olive oil
In their experiment, the researchers fed the mice with an extra virgin olive oil. This type of diet increased the activity of so-called autophagy. The process significantly reduced levels of amyloid plaques and phosphorylated tau proteins, the researchers explain.

Experimental animals had an improved memory through their diet
It was also found that mice were better off on various tests by dieting with extra virgin olive oil. These concerned the work of the memory, the spatial memory and the learning ability.

Consumption of extra virgin olive oil resulted in synaptic integrity
At the end of the study, brain analysis of the mice showed that consuming extra virgin olive oil resulted in so-called synaptic integrity. This refers to connections between the nerve cells of the brain. Such synaptic integrity was absent in mice if they did not eat olive oil. (As)