The benefits of a Mediterranean diet are widely chronicled, but new research shows extra-virgin olive oil, a key part of the diet, may protect \u201cagainst cognitive decline.\u201d Specifically, researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia say extra-virgin olive oil \u201cprotects memory and learning ability and reduces the formation of amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain \u2013 classic markers of Alzheimer's disease.\u201d Researcher say olive oil reduced inflammation and triggers a process called autophagy, which helps broken down cells to flush intracellular debris and toxins. This includes amyloid plaques and tau tangles, the latter of which is associated with memory loss in Alzheimer\u2019s. \u201cBrain cells from mice fed diets enriched with extra-virgin olive oil had higher levels of autophagy and reduced levels of amyloid plaques and phosphorylated tau,\u201d said senior investigator Domenico Pratic\u00f2. For their study, the researchers looked at mice with three traits of Alzheimer\u2019s: memory impairment, amyloid plaques, and neurofibrillary tangles. The mice were put into two groups, one group got a diet enriched with extra-virgin olive oil, while the other group received a normal diet. The olive oil was given to the mice when they were only six months old and before any symptoms of Alzheimer\u2019s set in. While there was no difference in the appearance of the mice, at age 9 months and 12 months, the mice in the olive oil group \u201cperformed significantly better on tests designed to evaluate working memory, spatial memory, and learning abilities.\u201d An analysis of the brain tissue of the mice revealed more differences. \u201cOne thing that stood out immediately was synaptic integrity,\u201d Pratic\u00f2 said. The integrity of the connections between neurons, known as synapses, were preserved in animals on the extra-virgin olive oil diet. In addition, compared to mice on a regular diet, brain cells from animals in the olive oil group showed a dramatic increase in nerve-cell autophagy activation, which ultimately was responsible for the reduction in levels of amyloid plaques and phosphorylated tau.\u201d Next, researchers plan to see what happens to mice who are given olive oil at 12 months, when they are already showing symptoms. \u201cUsually when a patient sees a doctor for suspected symptoms of dementia, the disease is already present,\u201d Pratic\u00f2 added. \u201cWe want to know whether olive oil added at a later time point in the diet can stop or reverse the disease.\u201d The study was published online June 21 in the Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The benefits of a Mediterranean diet are widely chronicled, but new research shows extra-virgin olive oil, a key part of the diet, may protect \u201cagainst cognitive decline.\u201d Specifically, researchers at Temple University in Philadelphia say extra-virgin olive oil \u201cprotects memory and learning ability and reduces the formation of amyloid-beta plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41270"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=41270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/41270\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/41271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=41270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=41270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/toptrendingnews.co\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=41270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}