In 2019, research from the Prediabole Study showed that taking olive oil rich in oleanolic acid reduced the probability of prediabetic people developing this disease by up to 45%. And now, the Fat Institute wants to check if the consumption of this oil can help treat diabetes and Alzheimer’s.
Through the OLTRAD study, led by Dr. Javier Sánchez Perona, olive oil with oleanolic acid will be given to patients with type 2 diabetes at the Virgen del Rocío hospital in Seville for one year. With this test, which would be a precursor in the world, it would be verified whether through the ingestion of this fat the pharmacological treatment for diabetes can be reduced, taking into account that “it is better to alleviate a disease with diet than with medications alone.” Sánchez-Perona said in statements to EFE.
This acid is found in the leaves of the olive tree and is especially present in olive pomace oil, a by-product of virgin oil and of which Spain is the main producer in the world.
Obtaining oleanolic acid has been one of the main obstacles that scientists have had to solve to propose this project, due to its high price in the market. Faced with this situation, the Fat Institute invented a method to easily obtain it with a high purity of the olive leaf, where it can constitute 3.5% in dry matter.
Taking into account that the leaves of this tree make up 25% of its total weight, it is calculated that approximately one kilo of oleanolic acid could be obtained from an olive tree weighing one metric ton.
In the case of the treatment of Alzheimer’s, Sánchez-Perona also defends that they believe that “the bioactive compounds in pomace oil could help prevent or slow it down.” In this way, they also want to carry out a test with volunteer patients to analyze this line of research.
A group of US scientists has already raised the possibility of a relationship between diabetes and Alzheimer’s diseases, although inconclusive results have not been obtained. However, this team took insulin into account as a crucial element to understand this possible link.
As Sánchez-Perona explains to EFE, thanks to insulin, cells allow the entry of glucose, which is the “essential fuel” for neurons. However, if there is no insulin or it is not enough, glucose cannot penetrate, even if “it is in abundant quantities in the blood” and, therefore, the energy that makes the body function correctly is not produced.
The relationship that could exist between diabetes and Alzheimer’s would be based on the fact that the overabundance of glucose in the cells causes them to become resistant to insulin, which generates excess sugar in the blood and favors the formation of associated plaques. to Alzheimer’s.
Thus, the leader of the team of this pioneering study, who believes that this acid could be very useful for the treatment of numerous conditions, is optimistic, stating that by delivering the bioactive compounds of pomace oil to the brain, they “could reduce inflammation.” “.
