The following is reprinted from an article on the American Diabetes Association website, summarizing a study published in the April 2016 issue of Diabetes Care.

What is the problem and what is known about it so far? The glycemic index, or GI, measures how much a carbohydrate-containing food raises blood glucose levels. A food with a high GI raises blood glucose more than a food with a medium or low GI. Researchers have discovered that certain types of fat affect blood glucose differently when you eat a high-GI meal.

Why did the researchers do this particular study? The researchers wanted to determine how the type of fat (or the lack of fat) eaten affects glucose levels after both a high-GI and low-GI meal.

Who was studied? A total of 13 patients with type 1 diabetes (8 women and 5 men) were recruited from the diabetes care unit of the University of Naples Federico II hospital in Naples, Italy.

How was the study done? Study participants consumed three high-GI meals in one week and then switched to three low-GI meals for an additional week. The meals had similar total carbohydrate content but were different in the amount and type of fat eaten. Meals were broken down as follows: 1) low in fat, 2) high in saturated fat (butter), and 3) high in monounsaturated fat (extra virgin olive oil). Participants’ blood glucose levels were measured continuously throughout the study weeks.

What did the researchers find? When patients ate a low-GI meal, the quality and the amount of fat did not significantly affect blood glucose levels after the meal. But when patients ate a high-GI meal, there was a rise in glucose levels soon after eating the meals with butter or low in fat. However, after the meal with extra virgin olive oil, there was no steep rise in blood glucose levels.

What were the limitations of the study? The meals were eaten at home, so the patients were not being directly monitored on what they were eating. This lack of oversight may have affected the reliability of the results. What are the implications of the study? This study shows for the fi rst time that the type of fat eaten significantly affects blood glucose levels after a high-GI meal in patients with type 1 diabetes. Avoiding foods rich in butter and using extra virgin olive oil could help improve your postprandial (after-a-meal) blood glucose levels.

Reference: Bozzetto L, Alderisio A, Giorgini M, et al. Extra-virgin olive oil reduces glycemic response to a high–glycemic index meal in patients with type 1 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial. Diabetes Care. 2016;39(4):518–524.

Olive oil exerts direct effects on molecules in the body that alter human gene expression and metabolic function.

Reprinted from an article by Jedha Dening in Olive Oil Times, October 13, 2016

Olive oil, a monounsaturated fat, is the main source of fat in the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet), one of the world’s healthiest dietary patterns. Consumption of olive oil and following a MedDiet have been studied extensively in hundreds of studies and shown to provide benefits for many chronic health conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders and the metabolic syndrome.

While these health benefits are well established, science has not had the tools to identify the mechanisms behind such positive responses. Now, a breakthrough in modern medicine and nutrition called “omics” technologies— transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, interactomics, and fluxomics—provides a way to characterize the molecular markers and mechanisms behind the health benefits of nutraceuticals such as olive oil and the MedDiet pattern.

A recent review published in Biofactors reveals that the early evidence coming out of omics technologies confirms that olive oil and the MedDiet do in fact exert effects on molecules in the body that alter human gene expression and metabolic function.

Some of the specific effects of olive oil bisphenols on disease mechanisms include: “effects on receptors, signaling kinases and transcription factors associated with cellular stress and inflammation, lipoprotein metabolism and damage, and endothelial function and more in general with pathways responsible for cell cycle regulation and metabolism that include mitochondrial function and signaling, ER stress, DNA damage, and the response to growth factors, cytokines and hormones.”

Omics data also show that olive oil phenols have a balancing function (homeostatic) on the gastrointestinal tract—stomach, liver, and pancreas—as well as influencing inflammatory and vascular cells at the cellular, systemic level of the body. The data confirm the powerful role olive oil plays in human gene expression, as an anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating agent and in influencing antioxidant and detoxification genes in the body.

This really is a breakthrough in nutritional science and medicine, because now, what can be understood by these new omics technologies is the bioactive targets that specific components of olive oil have on the body.

For instance, before this new science, research has clearly shown olive oil has health benefits for cardiovascular disease, but no known mechanisms. With this new science, it can now be seen that olive oil influences genes such as MCP, IL7R, IFNc, TNFa, and the ß-adrenergic receptor ß2. MCP1, for example, “is a crucial chemokine responsible for the recruitment of monocytes to inflammatory lesions in the vasculature.”

This provides powerful information to scientists about how foods influence diseases, both in their development, progression and healing. This new science also provides another level of experimental validation and promise for revealing ways certain nutritional foods such as olive oil may be used in clinical applications for even greater benefits.

The world of omics technologies is still in its infancy, therefore there is still much to be discovered. However, the authors suggest that in the near future, omics technology will make it possible to predict and assess gene response in relation to nutraceuticals such as olive oil, which could lead the way to the provision of personalized nutrition and medicine that could reverse disease.