More Olive Oil Please

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By Kimberly Comey

First grabbing the attention of health-minded Americans after the 1959 publication of Ancel and Margaret Keys’ cookbook, Eat Well and Stay Well (Doubleday), the Mediterranean diet focused on the idea that the consumption of olive oil as an essential source of monounsaturated fat could actually reduce the risk of heart disease.

The diet recently received renewed interest after a new study in Annals of Internal Medicine suggested that adding an extra helping of walnuts and olive oil to the diet can substantially aid in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. The Spanish study took a group of 772 at-risk people and placed half of them on a low-fat diet; the remainder ate a Mediterranean diet supplemented with either 30 grams of nuts a day or 1 liter of olive oil a week. The results showed that those who followed the new Mediterranean diet had reduced levels of systolic blood pressure, decreased ratios of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol, and lowered plasma glucose levels, all of which are factors in the onset of CVD—a disease the American Heart Association claims caused about one in every three deaths in 2003. For tips on how to follow a Mediterranean diet, go to www.ehow. com/how_12780_follow-mediterranean-diet.html.

Author: Kimberly Comey

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