Monounsaturated fats like olive oil raise HDL (good) cholesterol

A paper just published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal offers another reason to eat that are high in healthy monounsaturated fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts and seeds. The authors state:

"We tested whether increasing the monounsaturated fat content of a diet proven effective for lowering LDL cholesterol (dietary portfolio) also modified other risk factors for cardiovascular disease, specifically by increasing HDL cholesterol, lowering serum triglyceride and further reducing the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol."

They randomly assigned 24 patients with excessive blood fats (hyperlipidemia) to a diet either high or low in monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA) for a month and acquired this data:

"For patients who consumed the dietary portfolio high in monounsaturated fat, HDL cholesterol rose [12.5%], whereas for those consuming the dietary portfolio low in monounsaturated fat, HDL cholesterol did not change...Patients consuming the diet high in monounsaturated fat also had significantly higher concentrations of apolipoprotein AI, and their C-reactive protein was significantly lower."

This makes eating good (monounsaturated) fats better than any medication; olive oil is an especially 'medicinal' food considering that it has other compounds also proven beneficial (type 'olive oil' into the search box above). The authors conclude:

"Monounsaturated fat increased the effectiveness of a cholesterol-lowering dietary portfolio, despite statin-like reductions in LDL cholesterol. The potential benefits for cardiovascular risk were achieved through increases in HDL cholesterol, further reductions in the ratio of total to HDL cholesterol and reductions in C-reactive protein."