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In the news: Olive Oil Contributes to Longevity

Can Olive Oil Lower Mortality Risk?

Nutritionists have long touted the benefits of extra virgin olive oil for heart health. Further, current dietary guidelines call for replacing some saturated fats with olive oil and unsaturated vegetable oils for overall health.

Much of the evidence for olive oil’s benefits, how-ever, are based on research like the Spanish PREDIMED study where the Mediterranean diet was supplemented with extra virgin olive oil. Until now, no large prospective study has examined the link between olive oil intake and all-cause and cause-specific mortality in a U.S. population – a population whose olive oil use is far lower than in Mediterranean countries.

A new study(1) strengthens support for these dietary recommendations, and reports novel findings regarding olive oil and Alzheimer’s, respiratory, and other diseases.

Harvard researchers evaluated whether olive oil intake is associated with total and cause-specific mortality in two prospective cohorts of U.S. men and women followed for 28 years.

The study included 60,582 women (Nurses’ Health Study, 1990-2018) and 31,801 men (Health Professionals Follow-up Study, 1990-2018) who were free of cardiovascular disease (CVD) or cancer at baseline. The average age at the study’s start was 56 years. Diet was assessed by a food frequency questionnaire every 4 years.

Compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil, those with the highest consumption of olive oil – greater than ½ tablespoon per day (7 g/day) – had a 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality.

Higher olive intake was additionally associated with a lower risk of dying from: • CVD – 19% lower risk • Cancer – 17% lower risk • Neurogenerative disease (including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and multiple sclerosis) – 29% lower risk • Respiratory disease (e.g. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease) – 18%

The researchers estimate that replacing 10 g/day of margarine, butter, mayonnaise, or dairy fat with the same amount of olive oil is associated with an 8%-34% lower risk of death from various causes.

Finally, no decrease in mortality was observed when the researchers substituted olive oil for vegetable oil in analyses, which suggests that vegetable oils might offer similar health benefits. However, the researchers did not distinguish between virgin/extra-virgin olive oil and refined/processed olive oil which may have made a difference. Virgin and extra virgin olive oils contain polyphenols and antioxidant components while refined or processed olive oil contains few phytochemicals.

An accompanying editorial(2) emphasizes that olive oil is not a ‘silver bullet’ but should be part of an overall plant-based diet and a healthy lifestyle – one which includes physical activity.

As for the link between olive oil intake and neuro-degenerative diseases, the editorial notes that “in a sensitivity analysis, the authors found a significant 27% reduction in risk of dementia-related mortality for those in the highest vs lowest category of olive oil consumption. Considering the lack of preventive strategies for Alzheimer’s disease and the high morbidity and mortality related to this disease, this finding, if confirmed, is of great public health importance”.

The editorial also addressed the association of olive oil consumption with risk of respiratory disease mortality. “Because the mechanism behind this association is unclear and residual confounding from smoking cannot be ruled out, this finding is tentative and requires confirmation in a study that is less susceptible to confounding, such as a randomized trial.”

1. Guasch-Ferré M, et al. Consumption of olive oil and risk of total and cause-specific mortality among U.S. adults. J Am Col Cardiol. 79:101-112, 2022.
2. Larsson SC. Editorial: Can small amounts of olive oil keep the death away? J Am Col Cardiol. 79: 113–115, 2022.