Half-tablespoon of olive oil every day ‘reduces risk of fatal heart disease’

‘Clinicians should be counselling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil,’ lead author says

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Higher intake of olive oil is associated with lower risk of dying from illnesses such as heart disease and cancer, according to a new study by a world-leading university.

Research by scientists at Havard University in the US found that people who consumed more than half a tablespoon of olive oil (7g) were less likely to die from the disease than those who ate none.

“Clinicians should be counselling patients to replace certain fats, such as margarine and butter, with olive oil to improve their health,” Dr Marta Guasch-Ferré, the senior research scientist who led the study, said.

Olive oil is a staple of the Mediterranean diet which previous studies have linked to better heart and brain health.

The Mediterranean diet, which comes from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including France, Greece, Italy and Spain, is also high in vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts, beans, cereals, grains and fish.

For their study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the researchers analysed the health records of 60,582 women and 31,801 men working in US healthcare over a 30-year period.

None of those who took part in the study had heart disease or cancer when it began in 1990 and completed surveys every four years over the three-decade period.

Their olive oil consumption was based on how much they reported eating in salad dressings, put in food or bread.

They also looked at the amount used in frying food or baking at home.

Compared with people who never or rarely ate olive oil, those eating the most had a 19 per cent lower chance of dying from cardiovascular causes such as heart disease or stroke.

This group's risk of dying from cancer was also 17 per cent lower compared with those who ate little or none.

They were also 29 per cent less likely to die from neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease and 18 per cent lower for respiratory causes.

The authors cautioned that the study is observational and therefore does not prove a direct link between olive oil and lower risk of death, adding that anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties might have played a role.