Regardless of which group participants were assigned to, those eating more nuts each day had a significantly lower risk of dying prematurely overall.12 Those who consumed more red- and yellow-light sources of fat—olive oil or extra virgin olive oil—failed to have any survival benefit.13 This is consistent with the way Ancel Keys, the so-called father of the Mediterranean diet, viewed olive oil. He thought of its benefit more as a means of replacing animal fats—that is, anything to get people to eat less lard and butter.14
