The consumption of extra virgin olive oil reduces anxiety and stress

It probably helps reduce too anxiety and stress. It is the last frontier of research on extra virgin olive oil, yet to be certified with reliable scientific evidence. The behavioral phenomenon was found in a study that had a completely different goal: to verify if olive oil can slow down the aging of our brain.
The study is the one made by Giorgio D'Andrea, young researcher of the Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology of the National Research Council (CNR) in Rome, thanks to a research project financed by Monini, through the public tender of the Umberto Veronesi Foundation.
Specifically, D'Andrea's study took into consideration the effect of a particular molecule naturally present in large quantities in high quality olive oil - thehydroxytyrosol - on brain neuronal stem cells, in an elderly experimental model. It is one of the few international studies to have investigated the properties of oil in relation to cognitive aging.
One of the mechanisms linked to aging is in fact the progressive decrease in cell renewal. When brain cells, neurons, lose the ability to generate new ones, this affects learning ability and cognitive decline. Could hydroxytyrosol, D'Andrea asked himself, slow down the process?
The results showed that in the population treated with this molecule there is an increased production of new neurons in a region of the brain, the hippocampus. Not only that: the analysis of the gene profiles showed a profile compatible with reduction of inflammation and oxidative stress. As mentioned, another interesting phenomenon was also observed in behavioral tests: less anxiety and less stress in treated subjects compared to controls. This could be related to the increased production of neurons in the hippocampus, but also to the composition of the microbiota, the set of microorganisms that colonize the intestine, increasingly studied for its correlation with neurological health. In fact, the analyzes confirm that the administration of hydroxytyrosol protects the microbiota from negative changes caused by stress.
In short, the study confirms the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory role of one of the characteristic molecules of extra virgin olive oil, which can have protective and improving effects on the genesis of neurons in elderly subjects. In addition, it adds a new element that deserves further future investigations: the protection of the microbiota from age-related negative and stressful changes, which could affect the mental health of individuals.