Olive Oil Found
To Be Healthy
Why is it that people living in the
Mediterranean basin often eat
high-fat diets, yet have a lower
incidence of heart disease than
those, say, in northern Europe?
The answer may lie in that an-
cient, multipurpose fruit. The
olive.
In tests conducted by scientists
at the Hebrew University-Hadas-
sah Medical School, it was found
that regular consumption of olive
oil effectively reduces the level of
"bad" cholesterol in the blood.
Bad cholesterol is the kind
that becomes oxidized in the
blood. It damages body tissue and
clogs coronary arteries.
In tests conducted over a four-
year period at the Har Etzion
Yeshiva in Alon Shvut, some 140
students ages 18-23 were fed four
separate, controlled diets. Each
diet was balanced to supply all
nutritional needs. However, one
diet was rich in monounsaturat-
ed fats (found in olive oil, avoca-
do and almonds), one high in
polyunsaturated fats (found in
popular vegetables oils, such as
soybean, sunflower and corn oils),
one with a concentration of sat-
urated fats (found in meat and
dairy products) and a fourth (con-
trol group) diet with no special
diet conditions.
The study, funded by the U.S.
National Institutes of Health,
was coordinated by Professor El-
liot Berry in cooperation with
Professors Yechezkiel Stein and
Shlomo Eisenberg, all of the He-
brew University-Hadassah Med-
ical School.
All of the students in the ex-
periment underwent regular
blood tests to show the effects of
the diets on their cholesterol lev-
els. In the main, the tests showed
no surprises: The group that ate
saturated fats had the highest
cholesterol levels, and the group
that consumed the polyunsatu-
rated-concentrated diet had the
lowest levels.
What proved to be most sig-
nificant, however, was that the
group which regularly was fed
the monounsaturated fats had
the lowest tendency to form the
dangerous, oxidized cholesterol
in the blood.
The various test groups were
switched every few months, with
corresponding changes in cho-
lesterol levels.
A primary conclusion of the
study is that while polyunsatu-
rated fats do, indeed, lower cho-
lesterol — as they have long been
touted to do — they do not con-
tribute to lowering the danger-
ous oxidizing effect. Only the
monounsaturates do that. There-
fore, advises Professor Berry, in
order to lower the "bad" choles-
terol level, one should eat two ta-
blespoons a day of olive oil. El
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