Previously, Dr Mullen and his team had shown that olive oil can have a tangible impact on the presence of heart-health-related ‘biomarkers’ in urine. These biomarkers are protein fragments which can indicate the development of coronary artery disease (CAD) before symptoms have even started.

However, the team had not applied this measurement technique to other cooking oils – and that’s what this new study set out to do. The new study also used volunteers from Glasgow – the same place as those who took part in the original study – to see if the results could be replicated.

What the team found was fascinating. While just six weeks of consuming 20ml of olive oil a day made a noticeable difference to heart health, consuming the same amounts of rapeseed and sunflower oil had no impact whatsoever.

Consuming just 4 teaspoons of olive oil a day could have a massive effect on your heart health