A new breakthrough might explain why Mediterranean diets are so healthy.
The olive rich diet of salad, fruit, nuts and fish has long been associated with a healthy heart and cardiovascular health, but new research has uncovered a chemical reaction that might explain just why it is so good for us.
Although each component of this kind of diet has obvious nutritional value, experiments on mice have found that the development of nitro fatty acids, which forms when unsaturated fats in olive oil joins with the nitrite in the vegetables, lower blood pressure by blocking the enzyme epoxide hydrolase.
This could explain why the Mediterranean diet is healthy, despite its fat content.
“Humans have this same enzyme so we think the same happens in people” said Professor Philip Eaton, who worked on the study which was a collaboration between Kings College London and the University of California.
A Mediterranean diet consists of vegetables, fruit, nuts, olives, only low fat dairy products and very low amounts of red meat. Fish and poultry is eaten instead.
Human trials are being planned apparently, as the experiment was specifically conducted on mice, and the compound could be having an effect through another method.