Contemporary Medical Research on Olive Oil

At the end of the 1960s mortality rates from coronary diseases and neoplasias in Greece were low, thanks to the nutritional habits of the Greeks. Such diseases, however, have increased over the last thirty years in sectors of the Greek population that have adopted the nutritional habits of the Europeans. A number of studies, conducted during the last twenty years and based on observations of patients, show that low rates of various types of cancer, coronary diseases and other chronic illnesses are related to basic elements of traditional Mediterranean nutrition. These results agree with the results from other research conducted before or after the research in Greece. The population of Greece still consumes a great deal of olive oil and lipids and thus has very low mortality rates from heart disease and various types of cancer. Unfortunately, this benefit has been neglected, to judge from the evidence of adverts, which suggest that seed oil and margarine have taken the place of olive oil. In the light of this and subsequent to a decision by the Supreme Specialized Scientific Health Council, the University of Athens Health and Epidemiology Medical Laboratory has decided to draw up a draft set of nutritional instruction guidelines, which lay out the need of healthy adults.
Distinguished scientists from Greece and abroad have contributed to the draft, under the co-ordination of Prof. A. Trichopoulou and Dr. P. Lagiou