Number: 03 Date: 12/09/2006 Category: Health science and technology Contact: Federico Casimiro-Soriguer Email: federico.soriguer.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es

OLIVE OIL CONSUMPTION CAN PREVENT OBESITY IN THE LONG RUN

Experimental works carried out by the research group of ‘Nutrition and Endocrinology’ of the Endocrinology and Nutrition department of Hospital Universitario Carlos Haya and Imabis foundation, both in Malaga, have proven ‘that animals fed with olive oil have a higher lipolytic activity than that of those animals fed with other type of fat, such as that of sunflower oil, fish or saturated fat, research group’s leader Federico Soriquer said. This finding involves a rise in the release of fat by adipose cells, which mean that those animals that consume olive oil are less likely to get obese in the long term, a theory which could be applied to humans too. In addition to this, the group of researchers has proven that ‘the redistribution of fat in the body, after reducing the weight as a result of fasting in animals, and after re-feeding is not independent from the type of fat’, F. Soriquez explained. Moreover, this group is conducting clinical trials, sponsored with private funds, in order to assess the role of medicines in obesity, diabetes and hyperlipidemia. According to Soriquer, in the case of obesity ‘medicines are not the solution’, although experimental research is always being carried out to find a medicine that has few adverse effects which ‘can help to loose weight in combination with a balanced hypocaloric diet, by means of regulating the appetite or a mechanism that absorbs food’.