The benefits of the Mediterranean diet: the version of British scientists

The mechanism of action of the Mediterranean diet is revealed

Copper news based on the materials of King's College London: Why you need olive oil on your saladBritish scientists have found out the mechanism of the beneficial effect of the Mediterranean diet on the body.

As it turned out, the combination of unsaturated fats with nitrite- and nitrate-rich vegetables, such as olive oil and lettuce, can reduce blood pressure due to the formation of nitroacids, which suppress pathological processes in the body. The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Charles et al., Protection from hypertension in mice by the Mediterranean diet is mediated by nitro fatty acid inhibition of soluble epoxide hydrolase).

The Mediterranean diet is rich in unsaturated fats, which are found in olive oil, nuts, fish, avocado, as well as nitrites and nitrates of vegetables (for example, spinach, celery, carrots). When these two categories of products are consumed simultaneously, during the reaction between unsaturated fats and nitrogen compounds, fatty nitroacids are formed.

Scientists from King's College London decided to study in a mouse model how nitroacids contribute to lowering blood pressure and whether their action suppresses the activity of soluble epoxide hydrolase, an enzyme that affects blood pressure.

As the results of their studies showed, mice with a mutation that prevents the suppression of this enzyme maintained high blood pressure, despite the intake of fatty nitroacids into the body of animals, which are usually formed when eating foods typical of the Mediterranean diet. On the contrary, in mice without such a genetic mutation, nitroacids contributed to a decrease in blood pressure while maintaining the same diet.

Thus, scientists have concluded that the protective effect of the Mediterranean diet, which includes unsaturated fats and nitrites (or nitrates), is associated with the formation of fatty nitroacids during digestion, which inhibit the activity of soluble epoxide hydrolase and thereby contribute to lowering blood pressure.

"The results of our study help explain why a Mediterranean diet with the addition of extra virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular diseases such as stroke, heart failure and myocardial infarction," said one of the authors of the work, Professor Philip Eatonat.

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