Using olive oil in the diet may help elderly people cut the risk of having a stroke, according to a French study published yesterday.
The French researchers called for new guidelines for elderly people to include olive oil as a way of preventing the disease.
But other experts expressed caution, following the publication of the findings in the journal Neurology.
One possibility is simply that people who use large amounts of olive oil have generally healthier diets – especially in France where it is part of the so-called Mediterranean diet.
The findings come from a study of some 7,600 people in three French cities – Bordeaux, Dijon and Montpellier. At the start of the research not one had suffered stroke.
After five years, some 148 had suffered strokes.
The researchers concluded that using olive oil for cooking and dressing food was linked to a 41 per cent reduced risk of having a stroke.
Researcher Dr Cécilia Samieri, of the University of Bordeaux, France, said: "Our research suggests that a new set of dietary recommendations should be issued to prevent stroke in people 65 and older.
"Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it."
But writing in the same journal, Dr Nikolaos Scarmeas, of Columbia University, New York, USA, calls for more research – warning that the benefits of the olive oil could be "indirect".
Neurology June 15 2011
Leave a Reply