The Predimed Plus project, the largest research study on nutrition carried out in Spain with which, among other issues, it is intended to document the health benefits of olive oil and the Mediterranean Diet, will have continuity thanks to the new collaboration agreement signed between the President of the Provincial Council of Jaen, Francisco Reyes, and the Rector of the University of Jaen (UJA), Juan Gomez.

In this way, as Reyes has stressed, "we are continuing a study that assesses how a Mediterranean diet low in calories and including physical activity and behavioral therapy contributes to the prevention of cardiovascular disease," but above all "we are adding arguments to convey to consumers the benefits of our Mediterranean diet, in which extra virgin olive oil has a leading role”.

In this act, in which also the deputy of Agriculture, Livestock, Environment and Climate Change, Pedro Bruno, has been present, the president of the council has recalled that "this is the sixth year that we collaborate with the UJA in this research that we had no hesitation in supporting from the beginning, something that we will continue to do until it concludes as in other projects that drive our university”.

The provincial administration contributes just over 24,000 euros annually to an initiative involving 23 research centers throughout Spain and nearly 7,000 people.

For Reyes, this contribution "is really an investment because with it we support a study that is putting in value the extra virgin olive oil and the bet that the sector is doing in recent years for quality, because consumers must be given reasons to buy AOVE and the results of this project Predimed-Plus are”.

Therefore, Francisco Reyes has "congratulated the UJA" for the development of this study that will benefit the olive grove, which "we already know the importance it has for our economy and employment, since it is the glue that fixes the population to the territory. There are many areas where there are no alternatives to this crop nor can it be modernized, so we must seek the added value that research like this provides so that it can have a future," he added.

For his part, the rector of the University of Jaen has "greatly appreciated" the Provincial Council's support for this project that has an "enormous dimension, both for the research groups that are involved as for the participants in it and the investment it involves”.

Two lines of research

Juan Gomez has stressed the uniqueness of this study, which "for the first time brings together two lines of research that separately are well known: lifestyle and weight loss along with the Mediterranean diet pattern and its impact on reducing obesity and cardiovascular disease”.

This project is expected to end in 2023 after 8 years of work, during which "there have already been numerous publications that support its positive results," and in which "the collaboration of the Provincial Council is being important because its economic contribution has been allocated to finance the hiring of a nutritionist, who is the one who is above the field work to be done with patients," concluded Gómez.

Source: Olimerca