Olive oil a monounsaturated fat, is the main source of fat in the Mediterranean diet
(MedDiet), one of the world’s healthiest dietary patterns. Consumption
of olive oil and following a MedDiet have been studied extensively in
hundreds of studies and shown to provide benefits for many chronic
health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease,
neurodegenerative disorders and the metabolic syndrome.
While these health benefits are well established, science has not had
the tools to identify the mechanisms behind such positive responses.
Now, a breakthrough in modern medicine and nutrition called omics
technologies — transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, interactomics
and fluxomics — provides a way to characterize the molecular markers
and mechanisms behind the health benefits of nutraceuticals such as
olive oil and the MedDiet pattern.
A recent review published in
Biofactors,
reveals that the early evidence coming out of omics technologies
confirms that olive oil and the MedDiet do in fact exert effects on
molecules in the body that alter human gene expression and metabolic
function.
Some of the specific effects of olive oil bisphenols
on disease mechanisms include: “effects on receptors, signaling kinases
and transcription factors associated with cellular stress and
inflammation, lipoprotein metabolism and damage, and endothelial
function and more in general with pathways responsible for cell cycle
regulation and metabolism that include mitochondrial function and
signaling, ER stress, DNA damage, and the response to growth factors,
cytokines and hormones.”
Omics data also show that olive oil phenols
have a balancing function (homeostatic) on the gastrointestinal tract –
stomach, liver, and pancreas – as well as influencing inflammatory and
vascular cells at the cellular, systemic level of the body. The data
confirms the powerful role olive oil plays in human gene expression, as
anti-inflammatory and immune modulating agent and in influencing
antioxidant and detoxification genes in the body.
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