In order to live well and long, a good diet is essential. And as Italians we are lucky for the many advantages that our Mediterranean diet brings. Now, for the first time, scientists have managed to identify the elements that make it so effective at the cellular level.
A group of researchers led by the Stanford School of Medicine has in fact discovered, unexpectedly, that fats fromolive oil and give it nightsare vital for cellular longevity.
“Fats are generally considered harmful to health,said genetics professor Anne Brunet.But some studies have shown that specific types of fat, or lipids, can be healthy.”
Researchers have found a important effect of oleic acid (one of the fats present in the Mediterranean diet); this is in fact able to increase the number of two key cellular structures, called “organelles”, and to protect the external cell membrane from oxidation process. Studying this effect on some laboratory worms, they later discovered that those raised on foods rich in oleic acid lived about 35% longer compared to worms fed normal food.
Not only that, but by looking at one of these organelles – sayings lipid droplets – scientists managed to predict very accurately how many days guinea pigs would live. “The number of lipid droplets present in each individual tells us how long the animal has to live,” explained Katharina Papsdorf, author of the study. “The worms with the most lipid droplets lived the longest.“
This study therefore seems to suggest the secret to living long resides precisely in the fats of the Mediterranean diet. Is that really so? “It will be fascinating to discover whether such an association between organelles and longevity also exists in mammals and humans,” concluded Prof. Brunet.