Teachers of Faculty of Pharmacy and Medicine of the University of Seville, along with a team of healthcare workers they collected in a study the main contributions to health of oleic acid, which represents approximately 70% of the composition of olive oil. The results of this study, announced by the Iberian magazine Mercacei, are particularly interesting, as oleic acid is the main monounsaturated fatty acid in the human circulatory system.
In brain it is an important component of membrane phospholipids and is very abundant in the myelin sheaths of neurons. As explained by the Sevillian educational center, a significant decrease in oleic acid was observed in the brain of patients suffering from major depressive disorders and Alzheimer's disease.
Like all free fatty acids, the main function of oleic acid is to be an energy molecule and an element of cell membranes. One of its most characteristic effects is its antioxidant capacity, as it can directly regulate both the synthesis and activity of antioxidant enzymes. Another beneficial property is its hypocholesterolemic effect: decreases the expression of proteins linked to cholesterol transport, reducing the absorption of cholesterol, thus preventing atherosclerosis.
Oleic acid is also recognized as anticancer molecule for the inhibitory effects of said nutraceutical on the overexpression of oncogenes and for its effects on programmed cell death. Furthermore, oleic acid is generally considered a anti-inflammatory molecule, although this quality, the study reports, is still the subject of debate in the scientific community.
On the other hand, oleoletanolamide, a derivative of oleic acid, presents anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects on its own, and is currently proposed as a potent therapeutic agent. for the treatment of obesity. According to researchers, this reinforces the beneficial characteristics that oleic acid has for health.
New research suggests that it can influence epigenetic mechanisms (direct modifications of DNA and associated proteins) and modulation of the immune system, in particular by regulating cells involved in the development of inflammation.
Finally, the authors of this study supported the development of further research to confirm the important properties demonstrated by this molecule and its derivative, oleoylethanolamide, in humans.
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