Olive Oil and Reduced Need for Antihypertensive Medications

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Abstract
SEVERAL STUDIES were performed in the past 2 decades to detect the influence of dietary fat on blood pressure (BP). Despite evidence that BP increases concomitantly with increasing total fat and saturated-unsaturated fat ratio, debate continues as to whether changing dietary fat intake might be a nonpharmacological tool in the prevention or treatment of arterial hypertension.1-5 Compared with a saturated fat diet, the Mediterranean diet, rich in olive oil, has been found to be associated with lower levels of serum lipids6 and BP.7 Accordingly, diets enriched with oleic acid, the main component of olive oil, have been shown to significantly reduce total and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol and total triglyceride levels, while high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol levels remain unchanged or even slightly increased.8,9