New research indicates that people who ingest more olive oil, grapeseed oil and peanut oil are less likely to get ulcerative colitis.

A new study by researchers at the University of East Anglia has shown that consuming more olive oil can actually prevent ulcerative colitis.  The findings were presented at this year’s Digestive Disease Week conference in New Orleans.  The study centered on oleic acid, which is present in olive oil, peanut oil and grapeseed oil.  Oleic acid is a monounsaturated fatty acid.

Over 120,000 people in the UK and 1 million in the US have ulcerative colitis.  The disease causes inflammation in the lining of the colon and bowel leading to pain and diarrhea.  Other symptoms of ulcerative colitis include fever, weight loss, and gastrointestinal bleeding.

This new research studied over 25,000 middle-aged people in the UK who did not have ulcerative colitis.  The participants completed food diaries during the study, which were then analyzed by nutritionists.

When researchers analyzed the results, they found that the people, who developed ulcerative colitis, had the lowest intake of oleic acid.  On the other hand, those who ate the most foods with oleic acid had a 90% less change of getting ulcerative colitis.

Dr. Andrew Hart was the leader of the research, he stated, “We estimate that around half of the cases of ulcerative colitis could be prevented if larger amounts of oleic acid were consumed.  Two-to-three tablespoons of olive oil per day would have a protective effect.”

Other dietary suggestions for those with ulcerative colitis include drinking lots of water, eating smaller portions, and avoiding fattening greasy foods.  Obviously, these are good suggestions for everyone, even if this digestive issue does not impact them.

Sources:
health.google.com
medicalnewstoday.com

The last time I wrote about the Mediterranean diet – the diet that evokes thoughts of ocean and sand, yet is built on the brick-and-mortar foundation of fresh fruits and vegetables, nuts, and sea-faring protein sources – I talked about a huge study that showed how strict adherents to it reduced their risk of the country’s most pernicious diseases, like Alzheimer’s , cancer , Parkinson’s , and heart disease – America’s leading cause of death.

Well, you can now add another deadly disease the Mediterranean diet’s leaves in its wake:  hypertension.

As most of you know, I’ve written extensively about high blood pressure.  Hypertension runs in my family, and it took me several years to develop a program aimed at lowering high blood pressure that avoids the life-long cycle of having to take medications.

The proven techniques and strategies are compiled in my book, The Blood Pressure Miracle .  Some of the strategies I talk about relate back to diet, with many of the foods I suggest straight out of the Mediterranean diet playbook.

So this latest study really substantiates much of what’s already been substantiated in my book (and substantiated by those who’ve given it rave reviews on Amazon.com).  But it never hurts to have more evidence supporting natural health solutions – particularly for the skeptics and naysayers of natural health, for whom it takes an act of God to convince them of its efficacy.

The latest study comes out of the University of Navarra, hailed widely as one of Spain’s top private universities.  The researchers there analyzed data collected from approximately 8,500 middle-aged men and women (average age:  41).  They found that those men and women whose diets consisted of primarily fresh fruits and vegetables and limited doses of olive oil consumption (less than 15 grams per day) were at a reduced risk for hypertension than those who didn’t follow similar eating patterns.

Doesn’t get much simpler than that, does it?

The study’s full findings are published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition .

Just as hypertension is a huge problem in America, it’s just as big a problem throughout the countries that make up Europe.  In the UK, for instance, it’s estimated that one in three Britons have high blood pressure, and one out of those three doesn’t even know it.  In Germany, the prevalence of high BP is even higher than it is in America, as a 2003 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the prevalence of hypertension was highest in Germany and lowest in America (when comparing the prevalence rate among six European countries to Canada and the United States).

Hypertension is not just figures given to you by your doctor, where you either have it or you don’t, and that’s that.  Because if you have hypertension, you’re often forced to confront a boatload of other health issues, be them intensely private (e.g. sexual), to intensely serious (e.g. heart disease).

It doesn’t have to be that way, though.  Whether it’s taking proactive steps to avoid hypertension from the get-go, to implementing the steps needed to get those numbers down from where they are now, hypertension does not have to be a part of your life.

And it all starts with diet.

Sources:
foodnavigator.com
bpassoc.org.uk
cat.inist.fr