O-LIVE: Impact of a Portuguese Olive Oil in Health Biomarkers

O-LIVE: Impact of a Portuguese Olive Oil in Health Biomarkers

This research project, approved and funded, is part of a larger project, entitled "Healthy Soil for Food", which completes several work packages, one of which is a clinical research submitted to Ethics Committee entitled "O-LIVE: Impact of olive oil Portuguese in biomarkers of healthy volunteers".

The main objective of this work is to evaluate the impact of ingestion of an olive oil rich in polyphenols on clinical biomarkers and parameters, such as anthropometric measurements, on inflammatory gene expression regulation and on the composition of the intestinal microbiota.

Olive oil is an ancient product that is crucial for social cohesion and for local economies in the Mediterranean region, particularly in Portugal. There is ample evidence on the protective effect of olive oil in cardiovascular disease, diabetes, oncological diseases and neurological degeneration. Furthermore, olive oil has been shown to increase the rate of oxidation, inhibiting lipogenesis and stimulating lipolysis, in addition to affecting the expression of receptors involved in weight regulation and fat use.

These health benefits of olive oil derive from its specific nutritional composition, with monounsaturated fatty acids, polyphenols and phenolic compounds, which act on metabolism, modulation of inflammatory responses and gene expression. But the composition of olive oil can vary considerably depending on the type of cultivation of olive trees, soil management practices, as well as the extraction and technological processes involved in olive oil production.

In this work the investigators will use an olive oil rich in polyphenols (produced in a sustainable and local manner) and evaluate its effect on several important clinical parameters involved in chronic diseases. The investigators anticipate that the results of this work will help support the relationship between consuming higher polyphenol olive oil and improved overall health.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Healthy volunteers

Exclusion Criteria:

• Current active infections
• Medications (Antidepressant medication, Antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, Angiotensin Converting Enzyme inhibitors, insulin and oral anti-diabetic medication)
• Dietary supplements (minerals and oligoelements, antioxidants, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids, n-9 fatty acids)
• Presence of ant chronic/metabolic diseases:
• Diabetes
• Cancer
• Inflammatory diseases