May 2024 Study Explores Olive Oil and Dementia Prevention Potential.
Medical News
In a study published May 2024, with 92,383 subjects, the issue of whether dietary olive oil can reduce the incidence of dementia was investigated. The data was from two longitudinal studies of health care professionals over 28 years.
It was reported that dietary intake of more than 7 grams of olive oil per day (about ½ of a tablespoon) reduced the incidence of dementia-related deaths by 28% overall compared to those that rarely or never or rarely ingested olive oil. The risk reduction in women was 33% and was 13% in men.
They calculated that replacing 5 g/d (grams per day) of mayonnaise with 5 g/d of olive oil could reduce dementia-related deaths by 14% and substituting 5 g/d of olive oil for 5 g/d of margarine could reduce the risk by 8%.
A genetic variant, apolipoprotein E ε4 (APOE4) allele can interfere with lipid and glucose metabolism and may increase the risk of dementia was tested for in a subset of 27,296 subjects. Subjects who were homozygous for APOE4 (have the variant on both sets of chromosomes) were 5.5 to 9.4 times more likely to have dementia-related death than those without the mutation. Heterozygotes (only have the variant on one chromosome) were 1.7 to 2.3 times more likely to have dementia-related death. After adjusting the data for this, the reduction in dementia-related death from the use of olive oil was still found to be present.
Summary
This large longitudinal study found that the ingestion of daily olive oil over 28 years reduced the overall incidence of dementia-related death by 28%, more in women than men. Substitution of olive oil for margarine or mayonnaise was calculated to also reduce risk. Although subjects with the APOE4 genetic variant had higher baseline risks of dementia, when the data was adjusted for those subjects, risk reduction for dementia-related death was still found in the olive oil group.
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