Croatia old town Trogir March 7, 2008
Trogir is a town-museum in the very meaning of the word. Lovers of cultural and historical monuments, art, original architecture and nice alleys are given the opportunity in Trogir to learn about the manifold and complex heritage – from the Romanesque yard to the modern interiors. The unique historical core…
Olive Oil and High Blood Pressure March 7, 2008
I am 52 years old grandma from Croatia.
I was born in City of Split on The coast of Adriatic Sea.
All my life I prepare and eat a nice Mediterranean food with lot of domestic olive oil!
I was very healthy and in good shaped 8 years ago my husband start anew Job in a continental part of our country in Zagreb.
Here is a continental food and much more colder winter time than in my born city!!
I start prepare a more pork meat and less vegetables.
Here I start using a corn oil for preparing my food!
I am sure/Now/ that i made a HUGE mistake!!
Now I have a problem with my pressure!It is 160/90 or more!!
Last month I start with new/old/cuisine!!
I start prepare food as my grandma told me!!
I am happy because I can see that my blood pressure is better for Now!
I will continue with a nice grandma cuisine!!
According to a group from Athens, the answer is yes.
They looked at adherence to the Mediterranean diet (high in fruits, vegetables, olive oil, cereals, nuts, fish) among 20,343 persons in Greece, ages 20 to 86 years, and related the extent of adherence to that diet to systolic and diastolic blood pressures.
People with a diagnosis of hypertension were excluded.
A ten-point Mediterranean diet scale was developed ranging from 0 (minimal adherence) to 9 (maximal adherence).
There was an inverse relationship between adherence to the diet and both systolic and diastolic blood pressures; the greater the adherence, the lower the blood pressure, though in absolute values, the effect was relatively small.
Still, it was clearly significant. Olive oil, vegetables, and fruits were all beneficial in lowering blood pressure. Surprisingly, high cereal intake was associated with higher blood pressure and, not surprisingly, high alcohol intake (more than four glasses of wine or its equivalent a day) was also associated with higher blood pressure.
Nut consumption was not studied. Of the three effective dietary components (olive oil, vegetables, fish), olive oil appeared to be the dominant factor.
Commentary: This is an interesting study. The blood pressure was measured on only one occasion. That is a drawback, but there are some supporting data both from animal experiments and in humans (two studies). The Mediterranean diet is very similar to the DASH diet (high in fruits, vegetables, low fat dairy products, nuts, poultry, and fish) which has been shown convincingly to lower blood pressure in those with normal or even somewhat high blood pressure. The only significant difference between the DASH and Mediterranean diets is the olive oil in the latter. Olive oil is largely a monounsaturated fat, primarily oleic acid. It also contains a variety of other substances, including carotene’s, poly phenols, and vitamin E. It is not clear which components of the olive oil seem to have a blood pressure lowering effect.
Why is this an important issue? Because the evidence now shows that a high normal blood pressure (130 to 139 millimeters of mercury systolic and/or 85 to 89 millimeters diastolic) carries some health risks (of heart attack or stroke). A normal blood pressure (120 to 129 systolic, 80 to 84 diastolic) is better – and better still is a blood pressure of less than 120 millimeters systolic, less than 80 millimeters diastolic (which we call optimal); see article in the Archives under Blood Pressure “New blood pressure recommendations”.
Certainly, there is no reason not to add olive oil to the recommended DASH diet which, in essence, is the prudent diet. After all, the Mediterranean diet is pretty clearly associated with a lower death rate from cardiovascular diseases (heart attack and stroke), and the olive oil component of that diet could be playing a significant health promoting role.
Psaltopodou, T., et al. Olive oil, the Mediterranean diet and arterial blood pressure. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Vol 80 (October) Pgs 1012-1018. 2004
One member of our Scientific Advisory Board says he supports substituting olive oil for hydrogenated fats, but people should realize that olive oil, and other oils add calories to the diet.
Join the Blog Against Whaling March 7, 2008
Hello Dear Friends,
On this picture You can see Mother and Baby whale on the fishing boat!
We have to STOP this !
We can do first step and STOP this !
Why i share this story with all of You!
The main reason is because i read a post from my dear friend from My Radical Blogs who started with big campaign to save Whales!
Champagne with name Join the Blog Against Whaling!
I was thinking that all of us will join this champagne,but I was wrong!We all like to talk but we are so slowly when we have to act!
So please less talk more act!!
Thanks!!
Here is the list of blogs who already take a part:
Campaign Blogroll
- My Radical Blogs
- Just 4 Families
- CoolAyla
- (See)King Truth
- Design Boston
- Money, Love, and Change
- Will Taft
- Eye Of The Dolphin
- Blackholes and Astrostuff
- Diet Food and Recipes
- Great Grannie Blog
- Lightening
- Lightening’s Blogworld
- Feed Flare
- Your World Gallery
- Eco-Hacks
- FatherlYours
- Multidimension
- NewZealTralian
- Nan0 – the People’s Car
- Pamibe
- The SuperHeroes Base
- Arthritis and Joint Pains
- MagpiesZone
- Third Rock From The Sun
- OneQuartLow
- Internet V3.0
- Life In The Country
- Smashed Frog
- O Blog
- My Big World of Crap
- Vanilla Soup
- Endangered Spaces Blog
- Alive With Passion
- Voice From The Deep
- Down On Our Luck
- My Only Photo
- Jaggy
- Discontinuous Permafrost
- Postcards From Myself
- I Want To Breath
