EFFECT OF HONEY AND OLIVE OIL ON SERUM CHOLESTEROL LEVELS: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Abstract

Cholesterol is probably the best known steroid because of its association with atherosclerosis. Previous studies shown association of olive oil use with reduced serum cholesterol levels. In addition, honey has been shown to have beneficial effects on lipid profiles. Therefore, this study was carried out to investigate the effects of olive oil and honey on total cholesterol level in healthy Libyan individuals. The study was conducted on 75 Libya volunteers aged 40-55 years divided into 3 groups including, 25 olive oil group aged 49.47±2.15, honey group aged 50.07±2.01, olive oil and honey group aged 52.07±4.31. The total cholesterol level was measured before and after the experiment and expressed as (mg/dL).The chemical and physical properties of the olive oil used in the study were found to be compatible with permitted limits issued by the Libyan National Centre of Standardization and Metrology .Our results showed that olive oil and honey significantly reduced total serum cholesterol (p<0.001) and (p<0.05) respectively. Furthermore, combination of olive oil and honey significantly reduced total cholesterol (p<0.001) by 21%. We conclude that the utilization of olive oil and honey can lead to a significant decrease in the levels of total serum cholesterol in blood.