Consumption of extra virgin olive oil improves body composition and blood pressure in women with excess body fat: a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial

  • Flávia Galvão Cândido
  • Flávia Xavier Valente
  • Laís Emilia da Silva
  • Olívia Gonçalves Leão Coelho
  • Maria do Carmo Gouveia Peluzio
  • Rita de Cássia Gonçalves Alfenas
Original Contribution
First Online:
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Accepted:

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the fact that extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is widely used in obese individuals to treat cardiovascular diseases, the role of EVOO on weight/fat reduction remains unclear. We investigated the effects of energy-restricted diet containing EVOO on body composition and metabolic disruptions related to obesity.

Methods

This is a randomized, double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial in which 41 adult women with excess body fat (mean ± SD 27.0 ± 0.9 year old, 46.8 ± 0.6% of total body fat) received daily high-fat breakfasts containing 25 mL of soybean oil (control group, n = 20) or EVOO (EVOO group, n = 21) during nine consecutive weeks. Breakfasts were part of an energy-restricted normal-fat diets (−2090 kJ, ~32%E from fat). Anthropometric and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry were assessed, and fasting blood was collected on the first and last day of the experiment.

Results

Fat loss was ~80% higher on EVOO compared to the control group (mean ± SE: −2.4 ± 0.3 kg vs. −1.3 ± 0.4 kg, P = 0.037). EVOO also reduced diastolic blood pressure when compared to control (–5.1 ± 1.6 mmHg vs. +0.3 ± 1.2 mmHg, P = 0.011). Within-group differences (P < 0.050) were observed for HDL-c (−2.9 ± 1.2 mmol/L) and IL-10 (+0.9 ± 0.1 pg/mL) in control group, and for serum creatinine (+0.04 ± 0.01 µmol/L) and alkaline phosphatase (−3.3 ± 1.8 IU/L) in the EVOO group. There was also a trend for IL-1β EVOO reduction (−0.3 ± 0.1 pg/mL, P = 0.060).

Conclusion

EVOO consumption reduced body fat and improved blood pressure. Our results indicate that EVOO should be included into energy-restricted programs for obesity treatment.

Keywords

Extra virgin olive oil Soybean oil Body fat Blood pressure Adiposity Monounsaturated fatty acid 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We thank Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais—FAPEMIG (protocol number: APQ-01877-1). The Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior—CAPES and Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico—CNPq for providing research grants to the authors. We thank Bioclin® for providing biochemical assays kits. These companies had no role in design, analysis, or writing of this manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

394_2017_1517_MOESM1_ESM.docx (43 kb)
Suppl. Figure 1 Schematic representation of study protocol (control group: n = 20; EVOO group: n = 21). FFQ: Food frequency questionnaire, EVOO: extra virgin olive oil (DOCX 42 kb)
394_2017_1517_MOESM2_ESM.docx (16 kb)
Supplementary material 2 (DOCX 16 kb)
394_2017_1517_MOESM3_ESM.docx (19 kb)
Supplementary material 3 (DOCX 19 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Flávia Galvão Cândido
    • 1
  • Flávia Xavier Valente
    • 1
  • Laís Emilia da Silva
    • 1
  • Olívia Gonçalves Leão Coelho
    • 1
  • Maria do Carmo Gouveia Peluzio
    • 1
  • Rita de Cássia Gonçalves Alfenas
    • 1
  1. 1.Departamento de Nutrição e SaúdeUniversidade Federal de ViçosaViçosaBrazil

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