For decades we have been following the faulty advice to lower our fat intake to a bare minimum when increasing the amount of sugar in everything.
Even a renowned brand of packaged macaroni and cheese contains added sugar, leaving us wondering why noodles and cheese may possibly need to get sweetened.
Fat is a macronutrient with many benefits, one of which is the absorption of fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E and K. It is also a building block of every cell membrane in the human body. It provides energy, slows the absorption of other nutrients (so you feel full longer after a meal) and is required for healthy liver function. And let's face it, fat makes food taste better.
Also, did you know that the human brain is more than 50 percent fat? The brain needs fats -- and especially essential fatty acids -- for perfect health. The body doesn't synthesize essential fatty acids so it needs to obtain them from a healthy diet.
It is no secret that Southern Europeans who eat a more Mediterranean Diet, consisting of vegetables, fruits, a great deal of fish and plenty of olive oil, have a higher life expectancy with fewer diseases.
An average, Italians and Spaniards consume about 13 gallons of olive oil per person each year. While the entire diet does play a significant role in how healthy men and women are, it appears the use of extra virgin olive oil is the major contributing factor to longevity and health.
In a study published in 2013, researchers followed two groups of individuals for five years. One group ate a higher fat Mediterranean diet while the other group followed a low-fat diet plan. The higher fat group had a lower incidence of heart disease, diabetes and much better success with weight loss.
The high-grade extra virgin olive oil contains around 30 polyphenols that act as antioxidants and decrease inflammation within the body. The monounsaturated fatty acids in extra virgin olive oil aid increase HDL ("good") cholesterol while decreasing LDL ("bad") cholesterol. ) Additionally, the additional antioxidants have been shown to reduce the risk of heart disease.
Our European neighbors have known for many centuries of the many benefits of olive oil -- they use it within the body and out! On the skin, they use it as an exfoliant mixed into a sugar scrub or as a moisturizer. However, you don't have to smear olive oil all over you; drinking it will offer known anti-aging chemicals, such as antioxidants and vitamin E.
From the Mediterranean, many men and women start their day with a quarter cup of olive oil. The oleic acid in olive oil has a satiating effect. As mentioned above, it also slows the absorption of other nutrients, so you will feel full longer and will not have to reach for that mid-morning sugary snack. While the calories in olive oil may be high, the overall intake of calories throughout the day will drop when you're just not that hungry.
Drinking olive oil can greatly increase the production of pancreatic juices and bile (which, incidentally, gives poop its brownish color). With oil, the risk of gallstones decreases and bile is important for the breakdown of fats so they can be absorbed into the intestinal wall.
The polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil act as antioxidants to rid the body of free radicals that could otherwise damage cells, or even lead to cancer.
A study found that drinking olive oil inhibited colon cancer at various stages of the disease. So why don't you use it to fend off cancer to begin with? This is not to say that you should skip those recommended colonoscopies after age 50, but go ahead and add olive oil to your daily regimen as a preventative measure.
Olive oil has the ability to keep blood sugar levels . In 1 study, blood sugar levels stayed lower on those who ate their meal together with olive oil, compared to a group of individuals eating a meal made out of corn oil. This makes sense because corn is a starch and has the ability to raise blood sugar levels more than olives.
With all this talk of the great benefits of olive oil, let us talk about how to take action. We know, of course, that it may be a little difficult to start your day with an entire shot of olive oil on an empty stomach first thing in the afternoon. In fact, if oil is consumed in large amounts, it may actually upset the stomach that is not used to it. Here are a few more ways to go about it.
First, start with a tablespoon and increase the amount over time. Another option is to mix olive oil in a blender with a cup of warm water and the juice of a lemon. It makes it far more palatable and the lemon juice can help with the easier digestion of the oil.
Additionally, lemon juice has been linked to enhanced liver function. A healthy liver generates bile, which in turn is needed for the proper breakdown of fats (and oils) from the small intestine.
Cold pressed extra virgin olive oil has many benefits when used correctly. You may not want to cook with it at elevated temperatures, however. While it appears to be much more stable than other vegetable oils, all oils break down and lose their nutrients and flavor when cooked on high heat.
Plus, the oxidation that happens during cooking may actually create compounds that attack healthy tissues in the body. For cooking at very high temperatures, it may be advisable to use a more stable fat that's a shorter chain fatty acid, like olive oil or avocado oil.
Mediterranean populations have some of the lowest rates of cardiovascular disease and the longest life spans of any in the entire world. And it is not by virtue of their low-fat diet. Italians, Greeks, and other people from these areas flourish on a diet that contains up to 40 percent fat.
However, most of this fat is monounsaturated olive oil, and the health boons of this polyphenol-rich oil continue to stack up. Let us take a closer look at three little-known benefits of olive oil.
Epidemiological studies have long shown that individuals who follow a Mediterranean diet that contains olive oil and other healthy foods have a lower risk of developing dementia.
And a recent study found that when laboratory mice that typically develop Alzheimer's disease ate regular chow enriched with extra-virgin olive oilthey performed better on tests of memory and learning Furthermore, their brains have been significantly less likely to come up with beta-amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, which are telltale signs of Alzheimer's disease.
In a study conducted in Italy, a diet full of extra-virgin olive oil reduced blood pressure significantly in patients with mild to moderate hypertensionand in some cases reduced the need for medication.
The study included people with moderately high blood pressure (less than 165/104 millimeter Hg) on antihypertensive medication. Participants were assigned to a diet containing either extra-virgin olive oil or sunflower oil. Six months laterthey were crossed over to the other diet for another six months. The olive oil diet reduced blood pressure to a greater extent than the sunflower oil diet, allowing patients to cut their drug requirements with a whopping 48 percent.
Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats and phytonutrients that boost levels of nitric oxide (NO). NO is a signaling receptor that relaxes the arteries and therefore affects blood pressure, and higher rates of NO in the endothelium lining the arteries are associated with lower blood pressure.
This oil is also a concentrated source of polyphenols, potent antioxidants that protect LDL cholesterol from free radical damage and keep the internal lining of the arteries healthy and free from plaque buildup, which also has positive effects on blood pressure.
Researchers conducted a study to determine if consuming high amounts of olive oil (as both a cooking oil and a salad dressing) was related to a lower prevalence of strokes. After following participants that had no history of stroke for five years, the researchers found that people who used the olive oil had a 41 percent lower risk of stroke than people who never consumed it.
At a secondary evaluation, those with the maximum blood levels of oleic acid (a kind of fatty acid in olive oil) had a 73 percent risk reduction compared to people with the lowest amounts.
This makes perfect sense. As mentioned above, olive oil increases levels of nitric oxide, which helps keep blood pressure in check, and high blood pressure is one of the most significant risk factors for stroke. Furthermore, olive acids are potent antioxidants that prevent LDL cholesterol oxidation and stave off atherosclerosis, another stroke risk factor.
Finally, research indicates that oil olive also can help prevent platelets from the blood from sticking together, thus reducing the formation of blood clots that could lead to a stroke.
To ensure you're getting all these health benefits, utilize only extra-virgin olive oil. To keep it fresh, store it in a cool, dark cupboard or in the refrigerator (bring to room temperature before using as it will thicken and possibly solidify).
Use olive oil as the primary oil for cooking, marinades, and salad dressings. It's fine to heat it. Monounsaturated fats are relatively stable--just keep the heat low to medium when sautéing.
A fantastic rule of thumb for salad dressings and marinades is three parts extra-virgin olive oil to one to 2 parts citrus juice or vinegar of your choice, plus fresh or dried herbs and seasonings. For example, three tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar, 1 clove minced garlic, a dash of dried red peppers, salt, and pepper makes a light and delicious vinaigrette.
One caveat to olive oil's benefits: Make sure what you are buying is the real deal. A food fraud study published in the Journal of Food Science found that olive oil was the very adulterated food thing out there!
Mislabeled states of origin, misstated ingredients on labels, addition of less expensive seed, nut, and vegetable oils, questionable purity--these issues have been around for years. But instead of dwelling on the negative, let's examine how to sidestep the"olive oil fraud"
Real extra-virgin olive oil is simply the oil from mechanically pressed olive seedswithout any heat or chemical processes can be used. To guarantee freshness, look at the bottle for a harvested date.
Ideally, your oil ought to be significantly less than a year old. (If kept in ideal conditions, olive oil can keep for up to two years.) A brand with the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) or the California Olive Oil Council's (COOC) stamp of approval is probably legitimate.
In traditional times, Italians outlive Americans with an average of four years. However, at the Sicani Mountain area of Sicily, marked by rolling hills covered with olive trees, the locals live past 100 at a rate more than four times greater than Italy as a whole.
Sicani Mountain villagers eat a Mediterranean diet, snacking on olives and using the fruit's oil to prepare dinner. As a consequence, their arteries are as supple as the ones of people 10 years younger, researchers say.
"We have known for 50 or 60 years that the Mediterranean diet is beneficial for health, but olive oil is emerging as the most important ingredient," says Domenico Praticò, M.D., director of the Alzheimer's Center at Temple University.
Among individuals in olive-growing regions, the incidences of heart disease, cancer, type two diabetes and cognitive decline are extremely low.
The olive oil offers hope
Praticò and others have been exploring the effect of extra-virgin olive oil, or even EVOO, on the brain. They've discovered that compounds in the fat of this high-grade oil can flush out fats that gum up the communication channels between brain tissues. That may delay, and even reverse, Alzheimer's and other dementias.
One chemical that seems to drive this effect is an olive-derived polyphenol called oleocanthal. In animal research at Auburn University, oleocanthal demonstrated an ability to wash out amyloids, which form the plaques associated with Alzheimer's. In mice, EVOO can flush out tau, a protein that hinders language abilities and memory in humans.
Buyer, Make sure to beware!
But maybe not all of the EVOO sold at the supermarket is as potent as the petroleum that researchers use to flush out neurotoxins. In lab tests more than half of imported EVOO purchased at retail failed to meet standards of quality and flavor (a marker of antioxidant content) established from the Madrid-based International Olive Council.
In a 2015 analysis from the National Consumers League, 6 at 11 EVOOs obtained from reputable shops such as Safeway and Whole Foods failed the extra-virgin test. They were either mislabeled or had degraded during transport and storage.
So what does all this mean? You have to understand a few shopping tricks if you want to get all the protection that EVOO offers to the centenarians of the Sicani Mountains.
1. Look for"extra virgin"
That distinction means the oil is free of flavor defects. EVOO also has the highest concentration of disease-fighting polyphenols,'' says Praticò. (He recommends consuming two tablespoons each and every day for the best effect.)
2. Pick a dark jar.
Exposure to light can ruin EVOO's polyphenols. "Dark glass or tins offer much greater protection," says Joseph Profaci, executive director of the North American Olive Oil Association. For further protection, store the oil in a cool, dark place.
3. Assess the bottle date.
"Some olive oils have a shelf life of six months; others last three years," says Dan Flynn, executive director of the UC Davis Olive Center. To find the freshest oil, then start looking for the best-before date, that is usually 18 to 24 months from when the oil was bottled. "If the best-before date is just a few months away, find a fresher petroleum," says Flynn. When you open the bottle and expose the oil to oxygen, it starts to degrade.
4. Buy from California
In 2014, California began standardized testing. The impact is significant: In 2017 retail samples of unregulated EVOOs were below standard 82 percent of the moment, but regulated EVOO failed only 10 percent of the time. Richard Isaacson, M.D., director of the Alzheimer's Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medicine, says he can see the difference in his practice.
"I have had dozens of patients who started taking at least 1 to 2 tablespoons of EVOO daily, and it had no effect," he says. So he switched them to California oil. After that"their cholesterol improved"
5. Give it a swig
The more potent an oil's flavor, the more powerful its protective effects. If you feel a slight burn at the back of your throat, it means the oil has high levels of oleocanthal, the polyphenol that's been demonstrated to bust up Alzheimer's plaques.
