The Health-Giving Benefits Of Olive Oil

Oily salad dressings are often pointed out for being unhealthy, so why not replace it with olive oil? Unlike unhealthy salad dressings, olive oil has a number of health benefits. Yep! It has been shown to help lower the risk of heart attacks, stroke, and even cancer, not to mention generally keeping your brain healthy. Olive oil isn't just healthy but also tastes really nice in combination with other meals.

You may have heard that the typical Mediterranean diet has a number of health-giving benefits and many of those are, in fact, attributable to the inclusion of olive oil. Even among other vegetable oils olive oil has unique properties. Among these unique properties, one of the best ones is that olive oil has the highest content of mono-unsaturated fatty acids.  Saturated fatty acids, which occur in a lot of animal fats are often thought to be bad for our health, whereas unsaturated (particularly mono-unsaturated) fatty acids are particularly known to be good for the heart and blood vessels. 

With it's huge health benefits and tasty flavor, why wouldn't you try adding olive oil to more meals? Before tr

Healthy heart and less risk of stroke

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in April confirmed the benefit of a diet high in olive oil for heart health.  The researchers compared a Mediterranean diet with daily intake of extra virgin olive oil with a standard low-fat diet, in people at risk of heart disease and stroke (people with type 2 diabetes, overweight or obese or with high cholesterol). 

These results are very credible as there have been a number of other studies which have shown similar findings in terms of olive oil protecting the heart.  Constituents of olive oil may help in two ways – by acting as antioxidants to neutralize reactive oxygen species which can damage blood vessels, and by combating long-term inflammation, known to contribute to clogging up of arteries.

Natural cholesterol-lowering

Another reason that olive oil seems to protect from heart attacks and stroke, may be the effect it has in lowering the ‘bad’ cholesterol known as low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which is associated with heart disease and stroke.  

Lower blood pressure

The high level of an ingredient called oleic acid in olive oil has also been found to be a major contributor to the blood-pressure lowering benefits of olive oil.

Cancer prevention

Recently a team of Italian researchers analyzed the results of over 25 studies on the effects of olive oil in preventing cancer. 

They found a five times lower risk of developing some respiratory or upper digestive tract cancer in olive oil consumers, compared with those consuming mainly saturated fats, such as butter.

Help memory and mental function

Consuming unsaturated fats, such as found in high concentration in olive oil, has been found to improve memory, general cognitive health and mental function.

Why does olive oil have so many benefits?

It’s not only the switching of bad saturated fats for olive oil, high in mono-unsaturates that brings health benefits, but also the constituents of olive oil. These include more than nine polyphenols – substances which have antioxidant and/or anti-inflammatory effects in the body.  

How To Get The Most Benefit From Olive Oil

Which is the best olive oil?

You may find the different classifications of olive oil confusing, but it does make a difference to the nutritional value of the oil. 

This means it is not refined and has not been heated to extract the oil, which destroys some of the valuable nutrients. So extra-virgin olive oil has the highest levels of polyphenols, and is better than virgin olive oil.  ‘Cold pressed’ is another description you might see, and this is also a good sign as it means that heat has not been used to extract the oil.

Look for the initials IOOC (International Olive Oil Council) or COOC (California Olive Oil Council) on the bottle label for a guarantee that the contents are truly what they say they are.

Use and store your olive oil carefully

Buy olive oil that is in a green or dark-colored glass or plastic bottle, as this will keep it in good condition for longer.

At home be careful not to store the oil near a heat source such as your cooker.

Consider buying small bottles so the oil is always relatively fresh. Some people also recommend decanting a small amount to a bottle which you keep to hand, while storing the rest in the fridge.  This limits oxidation in air from opening the large container too often.  (Oil stored in the fridge may go cloudy and solidify a little, but will return to normal at room temperature and is not harmed by chilling).

How much should you eat?

Recommendations re daily consumption for health benefits vary between two and four tablespoons a day.  This small amount emphasises how rich olive oil is in nutritious constituents.  Also remember that oils are also rich in calories, so they should form a complementary, but not excessively great part of a balanced diet, so go steady with that bottle!

Ditch the low-fat dressing

One of the reasons that olive oil has shown major health benefits when taken as part of a Mediterranean diet, is that it is maximizes the value of ingredients of the diet.  

A study found that absorption of these important compounds was better with normal fat salad dressings compared with low fat versions.  This is probably because carotenoids are fat soluble so able to dissolve in the oil in regular salad dressing.  While other oils in salad dressings (such as canola oil) have similar carotenoid-carrying properties, few can match the additional benefits provided by olive oil.