Can olive oil switch off disease causing genes?

How olive oil can help improve health including heart disease and arthritis

Olive oil's health-giving benefits stem from its ability to help 'switch off ' genes that inflame conditions ranging from heart disease to arthritis, claim researchers.

This discovery shows how the much-praised Mediterranean diet can suppress chronic disorders.

Researchers in Spain identified almost 100 genes whose inflammatory activity is dampened by consumption of olive oil, in particular extra virgin olive oil.

The Spanish researchers have found a whole new use for olive oil, in particular extra virgin olive oil.

Eating healthy mono-unsaturated fats such as olive oil is known to lower the risk of heart disease.

North America, the fast food capital of the world, has one of the highest heart attack rates in the world, much higher levels of animal or saturated fats are eaten.

In a recent study, 20 patients with metabolic syndrome, which puts them at high risk of developing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, were asked to eat breakfast foods covered in two types of olive oil.

One was extra virgin olive oil high in phenol compounds - natural antioxidants - while the other type of oil had low levels of phenols.

The volunteers had to avoid drugs, vitamins and other supplements for six weeks before the study started.

Dr Francisco Perez- Jimenez, from the University of Cordoba, said: 'We identified 98 differentially expressed genes when comparing the intake of phenol-rich olive oil with low-phenol olive oil.

'Several of the repressed genes are known to be involved in pro-inflammatory processes, suggesting the diet can switch the activity of immune system cells.'

Olive oil contains omega-6 fats, a form of 'healthy' polyunsaturates known to block the body's response to inflammation in chronic conditions such as heart disease and arthritis.

Dietitians say a Mediterranean diet also appears to improve vascular function - the flexibility of cells lining the walls of blood vessels, particularly in the heart and circulatory system.