Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil an Ally for Women’s and Men’s Cardiovascular Health?

Abstract

Noncommunicable diseases are long-lasting and slowly progressive and are the leading causes of death and disability. They include cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and diabetes mellitus (DM) that are rising worldwide, with CVD being the leading cause of death in developed countries. Thus, there is a need to find new preventive and therapeutic approaches. Polyphenols seem to have cardioprotective properties; among them, polyphenols and/or minor polar compounds of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) are attracting special interest. In consideration of numerous sex differences present in CVD and DM, in this narrative review, we applied “gender glasses.” Globally, it emerges that olive oil and its derivatives exert some anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects, modulate glucose metabolism, and ameliorate endothelial dysfunction. However, as in prescription drugs, also in this case there is an important gender bias because the majority of the preclinical studies are performed on male animals, and the sex of donors of cells is not often known; thus a sex/gender bias characterizes preclinical research. There are numerous clinical studies that seem to suggest the benefits of EVOO and its derivatives in CVD; however, these studies have numerous limitations, presenting also a considerable heterogeneity across the interventions. Among limitations, one of the most relevant in the era of personalized medicine, is the non-attention versus women that are few and, also when they are enrolled, sex analysis is lacking. Therefore, in our opinion, it is time to perform more long, extensive and lessheterogeneous trials enrolling both women and men.

Interplay Between Adherence to the Mediterranean Diet and Lipid Profile: A Comparative Survey Between Day-Time Healthcare and Non-healthcare Female Workers

“…Indeed, it is well-known that age, excess weight and visceral adiposity can contribute to increase risks of hypertriglyceridemia, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes and hypertension (34). In addition, our study confirms that even in Mediterranean countries, especially in southern Italy, where EVOO consumption is a common everyday practice, there is better control of LDL cholesterol levels in subjects who follow this custom more closely (35,36).…”

Potential Beneficial Effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oils Characterized by High Content in Minor Polar Compounds in Nephropathic Patients: A Pilot Study

“…Extensive scientific research has demonstrated that daily consumption of EVOO is associated with numerous health benefits and a low-risk onset of chronic-degenerative non-communicable diseases (CDNCDs) [ 3 ]. Significant effects on the prevention of cancer, diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease (CKD), metabolic syndrome, obesity, arterial hypertension, neurological and cardiovascular diseases were reported [ 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ]…”

Spontaneous In Vitro and In Vivo Interaction of (−)-Oleocanthal with Glycine in Biological Fluids: Novel Pharmacokinetic Markers

“…26 In this study, the authors did not report a thorough characterization of the formed metabolites, nor was the interpretation validated. 27 Although analysis of oleocanthal either in olive oil or as a purified compound has been done using liquid chromatography (LC) separation coupled with ultraviolet or mass spectrometry (MS) detection, 28−34 and by quantitative 1 H NMR, 35 there are no studies addressing the detection and quantification of oleocanthal in biological fluids such as culture media, human or animal plasma, or tissues.…”