In a new study, researchers found that an acebuchin-oil-enriched diet helps to reduce arterial blood pressure.
Furthermore, their work shows that acebuche oil has a greater impact in reducing high blood pressure than extra virgin olive oil.
The research was conducted by a team at the University of Seville.
The acebuche, also know as the wild olive tree, is a variety of tree widely found throughout Spain and covering almost nine million hectares in Andalusia.
However, little evidence is available on the composition and therapeutic potential of acebuchin oil.
The studies mainly focus on the effects of olive tree leaves and extra virgin olive oil.
In the study, the team gave mice a diet enriched with acebuchin oil or extra virgin olive oil, and they found that the acebuchin-oil-enriched diet strongly reduced blood pressure.
However, a lesser treatment effect was found in animals fed a diet enriched with extra virgin olive oil.
The team also showed that the diet enriched in acebuchin oil reduces ocular oxidative stress produced by AHT to a greater degree than the diet enriched in extra virgin olive oil.
Furthermore, the former also has a greater impact in regulating the systems related to this oxidative stress.
In particular, the researchers studied variations in the morphology of the hypertensive retina, which are prevented by the acebuched-oil-enriched diet.
High blood pressure causes a change in the retina’s morphology (showing “thinned” layers in the retina).
This outcome can be counteracted with an acebuchin-oil-enriched diet, obtaining better results than with a diet enriched in extra virgin olive oil.
The research group has applied to the Spanish Patent and Trademark Office (OEPM), through the University of Seville, for a patent on the “Use of acebuchin oil in retinal damage associated with arterial hypertension and associated retinal pathologies.”
One author of the study is Professor Carmen María Vázquez Cueto.
The study is published in Antioxidants.
Copyright © 2020 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
