Olive oil, nuts may help reverse heart risk factors

Study finds lowered heart risks when diets are supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil - long credited to help lower blood sugar and reduce insulin resistance. - Filepic

A Mediterranean diet enhanced with extra nuts or more olive oil improved certain heart risk factors among people with heart problems, says new study.

By the end of the trial, which lasted almost five years, fewer people eating the Mediterranean diet had so-called metabolic syndrome – a collection of traits that raise a person’s risk of heart disease and diabetes – largely because the syndrome disappeared from some who had it at the start.