The heart-healthy Mediterranean diet has been getting a whole lot of press lately due to some pretty significant research into its benefits. It has been shown to lower the incidence of asthma and allergies in children, lower the risk of metabolic syndrome, possiblyeliminate diabetes medication for Type II diabetics, and may lessen the risk of cancer and depression.
Just last month research came out of the Netherlands on the Mediterranean diet and fertility. While the study didn’t actually prove that the diet alone boosts fertility, but found that two common diet patterns emerged: women who adhered to the Mediterranean-style diet had a higher pregnancy rate following in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). In fact, the women who were consistent with the tenets of the diet were 40 percent more likely to get pregnant than those women whose diets were farthest from the Mediterranean Diet.
More recent findings, out of Spain and published in the April online issue ofBMC Genomics, show that specific components in olive oil, a major player in the Mediterranean diet, may suppress genes that promote inflammation. "These findings strengthen the relationship between inflammation, obesity and diet and provide evidence at the most basic level of healthy effects derived from virgin olive oil consumption in humans," said study leader Francisco Perez-Jimenez of the University of Cordoba.
In this study, researchers focused on the genes in 20 participants who all had metabolic syndrome, a cluster of risk factors that occur together which can increase your tendency to develop coronary artery disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes, and how they were effected by a diet rich in phenol compounds. The researchers identified almost 100 genes whose inflammatory activity is dampened by consumption of olive oil, in particular extra virgin olive oil. Dr. Perez-Jimenez concludes that “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.”
Extra-virgin olive oil, which is produced by pressing the olives without the use of any chemical or heat treatments, contains phytochemicals that are otherwise lost in the refining process. In 2008, Spanish researchers conducted a study, also published inBMC Cancer, in which they separated the extra-virgin olive oil into fractions and then they tested these against breast cancer cells in the laboratory. The researchers found that all of the fractions that contained major extra-virgin phytochemicals polyphenols (lignans and secoiridoids) effectively inhibited the breast cancer gene called HER2.
source :
healthyfeeds.com
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