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Dear Colleagues and Friends,
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Health labels on food aim at assessing the quality of nutritional products, aiding consumers to consciously improve their buying decisions based on food quality. Extra virgin olive-oil (EVOO) in particular gained public coverage due to its beneficial effects on the prevention of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. However, it remains unclear to what extent health claims on EVOO correctly communicate health benefits to consumers instead of misleading and creating false expectations.
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Most recently, Alessia Lombardi et al. investigated to what extent consumers understand the health claims of EVOO. A 16-item questionnaire was collected after participants were shown these health claims. Despite high variations in comprehension levels on both the type of question and consumer background, 36% of participants gave the correct answers to more than half of the questions. Unlike previous studies with other food groups Alessia Lombardi et al. could not find a general link between education level and the level of understanding of health claims. Instead, higher understanding was rooted in consumers’ pursued interest in nutrition when they considered it an important measure to prevent diseases. Among other determinants of higher comprehension of health claims were households with children, higher age, as well as lower health status, which gives room for speculation on the sensibilizing effects of poor health. Interestingly, non-nutrition related health interests did not result in a better understanding of health claims. Overall, the low level of understanding highlights the necessity for health labels with clear messages and more public health initiatives to increase comprehension among consumers.
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Besides the health benefits to prevent cardiovascular diseases, there is rising evidence that a Mediterranean food pattern might also slow down mental deterioration. These conditions are particularly evident in older individuals of western societies and manifest subsequent repercussions in healthcare systems. Yet, no firm preventive recommendations exist for dementia or Alzheimer’s disease, nor other neurodegenerative diseases. Research studies such as the one by Muñoz-García et al. are speculating that nutrition might be a contributing factor, but most importantly it can be positively influenced to prevent these diseases. In this report, a Western dietary pattern (WDP) was compared to a Mediterranean dietary pattern (MDP) high in vegetables, fruits, nuts, fish, and olive oil. Higher adherence to the WDP was related to a decline in cognitive function over 6 years of follow-up, whereas participants adhering to the MDP showed less cognitive decline. Despite these promising findings, intervention trials studying the Mediterranean food pattern for the prevention of dementia are needed to confirm this pattern’s inverse effects on cognitive function.
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Basic research in this field is beginning to emerge. Cellular experiments such as that from Leri et al. have demonstrated that the polyphenol oleuropein aglycone (OleA), a secondary metabolite in olive oil, inhibits amyloid formation in neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells which could potentially interfere with the pathological pathway of Alzheimer’s disease. OleA was found to reduce amyloid growth, disintegrate existent fibrils by converting them into non-fibrillar and nontoxic aggregates, and interrupts neuroinflammatory cascades that contribute to this diseases’ pathophysiology. Thus, the intake of EVOO as a source of OleA exhibits theoretical curative potential for Alzheimer’s disease, or at the very least a potential lead for the development of an Anti-Alzheimer drug. Evidently, transferring these results to applied medicine requires further cellular and animal models research. However, the results powerfully demonstrate the mechanisms behind this and other components of olive oil and their effects on neurobiological pathways which could influence Alzheimer’s disease. Hence, one more reason to adhere to the Mediterranean diet for disease prevention.
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