Olive Oil can Reverse Damage to Heart Muscles: Study

Olive oil helps restore functioning of damaged heart muscles, finds a study.

Olive oil is an essential part of Mediterranean cuisine and is well known for its multiple benefits in overall health. Recently, experts from the University of Illinois discovered that a fatty compound called 'Oleate' in olive oil enables the heart to use existing body fat as fuel for functioning. A worn out heart has less energy and endurance to withstand wear and tear and cannot utilize the body fat that ultimately ends up on arteries and muscles.

In the current study, researchers found Oleate helps certain genes to produce enzymes that metabolize fat to ensure its easy absorption by the heart. They administered mild doses of Oleate to rats with weak heart muscles and observed it reversed the damages and functioning. The animals' heart began contracting and pumping blood normally, reports the Express.Co.UK.

"These genes are often suppressed in failing hearts. So the fact that we can restore beneficial gene expression, as well as more balanced fat metabolism, plus reduce toxic fat, just by supplying hearts with Oleate is a very exciting finding," said Douglas Lewandowski researcher and study author from the University of Illinois in Chicago, reports the Telegraph.

Many clinical trials in the past uphold the positive effects of consuming olive oil in our daily diet. Olive oil plus vegetables and fruits build the body's disease fighting properties and keep at bay ailments like high blood pressure, heart problems, stroke, obesity and cancer.

More information is available online in the journal Circulation.