Infusing more olive oil into your diet could pay big dividends for cognitive health and longevity, a new study suggests.

Researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and other universities analyzed population health data for more than 92,000 adults over a 28-year period. The participants’ average age was 56 and none of them had heart disease or cancer.

They found that people who consumed over 7 grams a day of olive oil had a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death compared to those who rarely or never consumed it.

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This was the case regardless of the quality of the person’s diet.

The dietary data was gathered from questionnaires; people reported their frequency of olive oil consumption. 

Researchers then compared that to the rate of dementia death.

“Substituting olive oil intake for margarine and mayonnaise was associated with lower risk of dementia mortality and may be a potential strategy to improve longevity free of dementia,” the researchers wrote in the study findings. 

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“These findings extend the current dietary recommendations of choosing olive oil and other vegetable oils to the context of cognitive health and related mortality.”

The benefits of consuming olive oil come from its antioxidant properties, according to Lindsay Allan, registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of Back in Balance Nutrition, LLC, in Tampa Bay, Florida.

Allan was not involved in the Harvard study.

The benefits of consuming olive oil come from its antioxidant properties, a nutritionist pointed out. (iStock)

“Oxidative stress is one of the main root causes of disease — this is why we always talk about consuming plenty of antioxidant-rich foods that have the capability to ‘quench’ those free radicals or ‘oxidants’ that are causing damage to our cells,” she told Fox News Digital. 

“Extra virgin olive oil is one of those foods that are super high in phenolic compounds, which act as potent antioxidants in the body,” she continued.

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“So it makes sense that consuming olive oil frequently — as opposed to those highly oxidized, processed seed oils that we find all over grocery stores — would mitigate the damage to the neurons caused by oxidative stress.”

Tanya Freirich, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Charlotte, North Carolina, who practices as The Lupus Dietitian, was not involved in the study but commented on the health benefits of olive oil.

“A higher omega-3 intake is known to reduce dementia and cognitive decline,” said a registered dietitian nutritionist. (iStock)

“Olive oil is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids, a nutritious fat that many people don’t consume enough of,” she told Fox News Digital.  

“A higher omega-3 intake is known to reduce dementia and cognitive decline. It’s great to see the association between consuming olive oil, a great source of omega 3s, and a reduced risk of dementia.”

“It would be wonderful if a particular food could delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but we do not have scientific evidence that these claims are true.”

Experts from the Alzheimer’s Association noted that the study had “significant limitations.”

“This study looked at people’s health records, death records, diet, and food frequency questionnaires to try to identify possible connections between specific food intake and risk of dementia-related death,” noted Rebecca M. Edelmayer, PhD, senior director of scientific engagement at the Alzheimer’s Association.

“It is not an intervention study where some people ate olive oil and some didn’t — which is the ‘gold standard’ for the way a treatment clinical trial is conducted. That means this study can show an association or connection between two things, but can’t prove cause and effect.”

Many factors beyond diet contribute to dementia risk, experts agreed. (iStock)

Edelmayer also noted that death records may not be a reliable determination of dementia mortality, because dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are often “underreported” as a cause of death.

There is also a need for studies among wider populations, Edelmayer added, as this one mainly focused on non-Hispanic White people.

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“There is good, quality evidence that consuming more olive oil and similar vegetable oils and less animal fats has health benefits, in particular heart health benefits,” she said. 

“It would be wonderful if a particular food could delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but we do not have scientific evidence that these claims are true. We need randomized controlled clinical trials to evaluate whether any foods have a scientifically proven beneficial effect.”

“In addition to olive oil intake, people should still aim to exercise regularly … and consume other healthy foods for the most protection against developing dementia,” a nutritionist advised. (iStock)

Experts agree that a multitude of factors come into play when assessing dementia risk.

“In addition to olive oil intake, people should still aim to exercise regularly, keep up with hobbies that stimulate their mind, and consume other healthy foods for the most protection against developing dementia,” Frierich said.

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“Additionally, other habits like smoking and alcohol use or health conditions like diabetes, cardiovascular disease and high cholesterol can contribute to the development of dementia.”

It’s also important to maintain regularly scheduled doctors’ appointments to manage other health risks, according to the experts.

Fox News Digital reached out to the study authors for additional comment.

For more Health articles, visit www.foxnews.com/health. 

The use of generative AI may not be helpful in reducing burnout in health care, new research suggests.

Previous research indicated that increased time spent using electronic health record (EHR) systems and handling administrative responsibilities has been a burden on doctors.

So some people had heralded artificial intelligence as a potential solution — yet recent investigations by U.S. health systems found that large language models (LLMs) did not simplify clinicians’ day-to-day responsibilities.

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For instance, a 2023 observational study at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, examined the impact of using AI for electronic patient messaging.

Researchers prompted a large language model to respond to simulated questions from cancer patients — then compared its output to responses from six board-certified radiation oncologists.

Medical professionals then edited the AI-generated responses into “clinically acceptable” answers to send to patients.

The study, published in The Lancet Digital Health, found that the LLM drafts posed “a risk of severe harm in 11 of 156 survey responses, and death in one survey response.”

“The majority of harmful responses were due to incorrectly determining or conveying the acuity of the scenario and recommended action,” the researchers wrote.

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The researchers concluded that LLM-assisted results (those edited by physicians) displayed a “best-of-both-worlds scenario” — reducing physician workload while ensuring that patients get accurate information.

“These early findings … indicate the need to thoroughly evaluate LLMs in their intended clinical contexts, reflecting the precise task and level of human oversight,” the study concluded.

Researchers concluded that LLM-assisted results displayed a “best-of-both-worlds scenario,” reducing physician workload while ensuring consistency of responses and improving the education of patients. (iStock)

Medical billing codes 

Another study from New York’s Mount Sinai Health System evaluated four different types of large language models for performance and error patterns when querying medical billing codes.

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The research, published in the journal NEJM AI, found that all tested LLMs performed poorly on medical code querying, “often generating codes conveying imprecise or fabricated information.” 

The study concluded, “LLMs are not appropriate for use on medical coding tasks without additional research.” The study was funded by the AGA Research Foundation and National Institutes of Health (NIH).

One study found that all tested LLMs performed poorly on medical code querying — and that the issue needs further research.  (iStock)

Researchers noted that although these models can “approximate the meaning of many codes,” they also “display an unacceptable lack of precision and a high propensity for falsifying codes.” 

“This has significant implications for billing, clinical decision-making, quality improvement, research and health policy,” the researchers wrote.

Patient messages and physicians’ time

A third JAMA Network-published study, from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, evaluated AI-drafted replies to patient messages and physicians’ time spent editing them.

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The assumption was that generative AI drafts would lessen a physician’s time spent doing these tasks — yet the results showed otherwise.

“Generative AI-drafted replies were associated with significantly increased read time, no change in reply time, significantly increased reply length and [only] some perceived benefits,” the study found.

Researchers suggested that “rigorous empirical tests” are needed to further assess AI’s performance and patients’ experiences.

In the UC San Diego study, generative AI was found to cause “increased read time, no change in reply time [and] significantly increased reply length” in patient messages. (iStock)

Doctor’s thoughts on AI

David Atashroo, M.D., chief medical officer of Qventus, an AI-powered surgical management solution in Mountain View, California, reacted to the research findings in an interview with Fox News Digital. (He was not involved in the research.)

“We see an immense potential for AI to take on lower-risk, yet highly automatable tasks that traditionally fall on the essential yet often overlooked ‘glue roles’ in health care — such as schedulers, medical assistants, case managers and care navigators,” he said.

“It’s crucial to set realistic expectations about [AI’s] performance.’

“These professionals are crucial in holding together processes that are directly tied to clinical outcomes, yet spend a substantial portion of their time on administrative tasks like parsing faxes, summarizing notes and securing necessary documentation.”

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In automating these tasks, Atashroo suggested that generative AI could help improve the efficiency and effectiveness of clinical care.

“When considering the deployment of generative AI, it’s crucial to set realistic expectations about its performance,” he said. 

“The standard cannot always be perfection, as even the humans currently performing these tasks are not infallible.”

“The standard cannot always be perfection, as even the humans currently performing these tasks are not infallible,” an AI expert said. (iStock)

In some scenarios, he suggested, AI could help serve as a “safety net” to catch any oversights of team members.

Tasks may sometimes go unaddressed “simply because there isn’t enough time to tackle them,” Atashroo noted.

“Generative AI can help manage cases more consistently than our current capacity allows.”

“When considering the deployment of generative AI, it’s crucial to set realistic expectations about its performance.”

Safety and efficacy are “paramount” in AI applications, the doctor also noted.

“This means not only developing models with rigorous quality checks, but also incorporating regular assessments by human experts to validate their performance,” he said. 

“This dual-layer verification ensures that our AI solutions are both responsible and reliable before they are scaled.”

Atashroo also noted that “transparency in the development and implementation of AI technologies is essential in building trust among hospital partners and patients.”

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