José Luis Quiles researcher of the Nutrition Institute José Mataix, of the Biomedical Research Center (CIBM) of the Department of Physiology of the University of Granada, has led a research that analyzes the effect that the intake of various unsaturated fats such as virgin olive oil, sunflower or fish, has on the liver. The conclusion of this work, which has lasted more than four years, is clear:

 "The long-term effect of fat accumulated in that organ is much more positive in the case of virgin olive oil than in sunflower or fish oil."

 The research of José Luis Quiles and his team has been developed in rats and emerged, to study the interrelation between oxidation and cellular aging and the different degree of oxidation that each fat causes.

 "Starting from the hypothesis that the fat that is ingested in the diet is used by the cells to build their membranes and that each type of fat causes a different degree of cellular oxidation, the intake of one type or another would cause a different oxidation and, therefore, a different aging in turn ".

 In the research, six groups of rats were used, with 12 of them in each group. The rats were fed according to the daily parameters established as healthy for each of the different fats (virgin olive, sunflower or fish).

 The study does not value, in fact, the abuse of these fats, but part of the recommended daily intake, although, very continued in time. The result of the research, which has been published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, determines that fat accumulates progressively in the liver, is different depending on the type of oil and, finally, that the older, the more accumulation of fat occurs in the liver organ.

 In the case of virgin olive oil, there were no problems associated with this accumulation. However, in the case of sunflower oil, "fibrosis, ultrastructural alterations, blocking at the level of gene expression and a high degree of oxidation" were observed. The fish "in addition to intensifying the oxidation associated with aging, reduced the activity of the mitochondrial electron transport chain and altered the relative length of the telomeres."

 Prolonged intake is the key, sunflower oil induces the liver to a situation that can be defined as the previous step to a relevant disease. It makes possible the appearance of steatosis or fatty liver that, although it can not be considered a disease, once you have it and if there are a series of events in the person, it can lead to a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), which is It is a pathology. NASH is a liver disease that may be the previous step to pathologies such as liver cirrhosis or liver cancer.

SOURCE: Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.