Olive oil’s health benefits explored at Yale School of Public Health symposium
From
Yale News (university blog for
alumni), Thursday, October 18, 2018
by Denise
Meyer October 10, 2018
:
Yale’s Olive Oil and Health symposium drew a deeply invested
group to New Haven this month—chefs, growers, importers, scientists,
associations of producers, entrepreneurs and business people—to celebrate this
amazing fruit juice and begin mapping out a new olive institute at the Yale
School of Public Health.
Olive oil is the cornerstone of Mediterranean nutrition and
speaker after speaker cited its vital role in better health outcomes throughout
the region. Athanasios Panagiotopoulos, the mayor of Delphi, Greece, home to
the Delphi Grove, a UNESCO
world heritage site, was among the
international attendees.
“There is no greater crisis in public health today than diet,
diabetes and cardiovascular diseases,”
Sten Vermund, dean of the Yale School of
Public Health, told the gathering in Winslow Auditorium in his opening remarks
for the two-day event that begin on October 3.
An olive oil institute at the Yale School of Public Health would
include research in chemistry, and metabolomics to develop assays and datasets
to enhance further health research. “We are extremely excited about the
interest from around the world in participating in an interdisciplinary and
multidisciplinary institute that will fill such an important void, said
Professor Vasilis Vasiliou, chair of the YSPH’s Department of Environmental and
Health Sciences.
For decades Americans have been told to reduce calories and cut
fat, even healthy fat like olive oil. “We are paying a hefty price for that,”
said Rafi Taherian, associate vice president of Yale Hospitality. Over the last
decade, he has spearheaded a shift toward Mediterranean-style nutrition—rich in
vegetables, seafood, legumes and extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), among other
staples—in the university dining halls, increasing the consumption of produce
by over 40 percent.
The symposium was organized by Tassos C. Kyriakides, an olive
oil sommelier and associate research scientist in biostatistics at the Yale
School of Public Health and director of the VA West Haven
Cooperative Studies Program coordinating
center, “It is time to bring together people from all the olive oil sectors to
break down silos, open up the olive groves and find ways to support and enhance
their work with this amazing fruit and inform future research directions,” he
said.
Health benefits
Olive oils that are high in oleocanthals have high profiles for
bitter taste receptors and have a peppery affect at the back of the throat.
This pungency is associated with many health benefits—a reduced risk for
cancer, Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases and added protection
against viruses, said Catherine Peyrot des
Gachons of the Monell
Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.
In addition to prevention of neurodegenerative diseases, Amal Kaddoumi, a professor at the Harrison School of Pharmacy at Auburn
University in Alabama, has found that EVOO increases the activity of the drug
donepezil that is used to treat dementia.
Mary Flynn, an associate professor at the Miriam Hospital and Brown
University in Rhode Island, has studied the effects of a plant-based olive oil
diet since the 1980s. Albeit small in sample size, numerous comparative studies
among cancer patients consistently show better weight loss compared to National
Cancer Institute diet plans, and when the patients are given the opportunity to
self-select which diet to follow for the final period of the study they largely
choose the olive oil diet. Her data reflect improved weight, insulin, blood
pressure and triglyceride levels.
By shifting to more plant-based meals on this diet, Flynn also
finds that the money saved on groceries ($14.36 per week) not only reduces food
insecurity, but also results in weight loss and reduced blood glucose. “Most
Americans eat too much protein and that turns to fat,” said Flynn. With the
decrease in fasting blood glucose, people don’t get hungry.”
It is time to bring together people from all the olive oil sectors."
TASSOS C. KYRIAKIDES
Among the natural chemicals that make EVOO such a super food are
oleocanthal, a phenolic compound, and elenolide which is associated with
lowering hypertension. Exploring the line between food and medicine, Propopis
Magiatis, associate professor at the University of Athens, is
researching efficacy of medical foods, or nutraceuticals, supplements and
drugs—a rapidly growing sector.
Consumer education remains important in traditional olive
oil producing countries, such as Greece," said Maria Kapsokefalou, professor of human nutrition at the Agricultural University of
Athens. Consumption of olive oil has dropped 50 percent in Crete since 1960 as
the country has shifted from an agricultural to a service economy. Through
genomic research, Kapsokefalou’s group is identifying specific healthy
properties in cultivars to link quality with the genome.
Industry perspective
Industry representatives agreed that market opportunity in the
United States requires further consumer education on health benefits and
incorporating olive oil into one’s cooking. After decades of steadily
increasing consumption, rates began to decline after a 2010 report on the
quality of olive oil from California.
“We have a population in dire need of dietary correction,” said
Joseph Profaci of the North American Olive
Oil Association in New Jersey. “If
20 percent adhered to the Mediterranean diet, we’d save $20 billion from 10
major health outcomes,” he said. Currently, only 40 percent of American
households regularly use olive oil.
Alexandra Devarenne, founder of the Extra Virgin Alliance, said that consumer trust
can be restored through better labeling practices, pricing that reflects
quality and an increased emphasis on flavor. “People’s souls are also hungry.
Olive oil is like wine with its richness of culture and food possibilities,”
she said.
For farmers, growing olives is a good way to diversify crops,
said Kimberly Houlding of the American Olive Oil
Producers Association. Olive trees require far
less water than nut trees that are widely grown in regions of the United States
and can provide crop diversification to monocultural farms.
In the race to develop EVOO with higher phenolic levels,
producers are experimenting with new pressing methods, precision farming and
organic practices. Nicholas Netien told the story of Atsas Organic Farm which was founded
on abandoned land located in the U.N. buffer zone between the Greek and Turkish
controlled parts of Cyprus. Situated in a manmade dessert with no ground water,
Netien has concentrated on collecting rainwater, preventing run off and enhancing
the soil. Compost, no tilling, and aromatic plants in the fields around the
trees have worked to “re-green” the grove. He plans to use olive pits to
produce electricity for the farm and introduce a small herd of cattle. The cows
will feed on the plants around the trees, and while their manure acts as
fertilizer, hoof prints create cavities to hold water.
An industry as large as olive oil is not without a downside. In
order to protect the health of the land, control release of polyphenols into
the environment, the production and waste products need research driven
solutions.
Demetrios Kouretas, a professor at the University of Thessaly in Greece, has
developed a low-cost animal feed containing the pomace of the olive that
remains after pressing. Livestock also show the health benefits of EVOO’s
antioxidants and it improves their nutrition. Other presenters spoke of the
need to preserve heritage groves from pests, disease and fire as well as to
document the genetic properties of approximately 1,000 cultivars.
The conference culminated with attendees joining some 250 Yale
students for a dinner featuring celebrity chef Michael Psilakis of New York.
The dinner was part of Yale’s Hospitality’s Food Conversations series and
demonstrated the use of olive oil to enhance and compliment flavors.
The group that convened formed a planning group to work towards
developing the mission, vision and structure of the olive institute.
