Benefits of Olive Oil Article

[musmar]

As many research projects have shown, the composition of olive oil, which as all vegetable oils is made up of triglycerides and minor components, greatly depends, among others, on climatic conditions, soil quality and fruit variety. The fatty acids that make up olive oil triglycerides just like micro components, vary depending on what region the oil is from. Oils therefore around the Mediterranean Basin are not the same and may not have the same effect on the human body as Greek Olive Oil. Research has shown that Greeks despite poor health care had a longer life expectancy (over 80 years) and the world's lowest rates of heart disease and cancer as well as the lowest mortality rate due to cardiovascular illness. Simply said, Greeks seemed to live longer, healthier lives.

The term "Mediterranean diet" is, however, misleading given the large differences between the Mediterranean populations in their dietary habits, e.g. between the Spanish, Italians, French, Egyptians, Israelis, Moroccans and Libyans. Even those that seem close in their dietary habits, such as the Italians, Greeks and Spanish; have large differences in olive oil comsumption, among other characteristics. The mean olive oil consumption of the Italian and Spanish populations is approximately 15-20 gr per person per day as opposed to over double that quantity for a Greek. These differences in dietary habits among the Mediterranean people along with the fact that olive oils appear to have different attributes depending on the region of their origin would suggest that consuming any olive oil as a preventive is not quite enough. Neither is it enough to follow what is called "the Mediterranean Diet". It rather seems that one can not go without the other. That is Greek olive oil with its special qualities and "Mediterranean" style of eating. Although the Chinese believe that food is a kind of medicine, and olive oil might have that interesting quality, it is much more preferable to favor it for its special flavor and the tastefulness it adds to food.

Scientists tried to pinpoint what was that made Greeks so special healthwise. Data was gathered, research and studies carried out and people started to talk about olive oil. Yet, Hippocrates, father of Medicine, had repeatedly referred in his work to the beneficiary attributes of olive oil to health in general, calling it "the great therapeutic". What had been known and applied for centuries in Greece, twentieth century scientists had come to rediscover through their many studies.

Today's scientific research on nutrition has recognized the Greek diet as among the healthiest in the world. Olive oil, rich in monounsaturated fats, is largely responsible for this excellent bill of health. Simply put, olive oil reduces the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol) which contributes to the buildup of fatty deposits in the arteries. In turn, it leaves HDL (good cholesterol) which works to actually remove any buildup in the arteries that has occurred.

Published studies also link judicious use of olive oil to reducing the effect of a growing list of ailments. For example, Greek women have a 42% lower rate of breast cancer than women in the U.S..

Olive oil is recognized as important in maintaining metabolism and contributes to the development of the brain and bones in children. It is also recommended as a source of vitamin E for older people. A natural anti-oxidant, olive oil slows down the natural aging process. It also slows down acid overproduction in the digestive system thereby diminishing the potential for ulcers and other gastrointestinal problems.

Clearly, olive oil is nothing short of miraculous in its healthful qualities while it contains no more calories than any other oil. A new study by researchers at the University of Oxford, that was published this recently, adds to the growing body of evidence that shows olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, is as good as fresh fruit and vegetables in keeping colon cancer at bay. Dr Michael Goldacre and a team of researchers at the Institute of Health Sciences compared cancer rates, diets and olive oil consumption in 28 countries including Europe, Britain, the United States, Brazil, Colombia, Canada and China. Countries with a diet high in meat and low in vegetables had the highest rates of the disease and olive oil was associated with a decreased risk. "Olive oil may have a protective effect on the development of colon cancer", Goldacre said in a report in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. Meat, fish and olive oil were the key elements of the diets in terms of the cancer. Meat and fish combined were positively associated with the incidence of cancer but olive oil had a negative effect. The researchers suspect olive oil protects against bowel cancer by influencing the metabolism of the gut. They think it cuts the amount of a substance called deoxycyclic acid and regulates the enzyme diamine oxidase which may be linked to cell division in the bowel. "The olive oil seems to reduce the amount of bile acid and increase the levels of the enzyme thought to beneficially regulate cell turnover in the gut", Goldacre said. Meat has the opposite effect because it tends to increase the amount of bile acid. Earlier animal studies have shown the benefits of olive oil over safflower and fish oil on pre-cancerous cells and tumour growth. Japanese scientists also claim that virgin olive oil applied to the skin after sunbathing could protect against skin cancer by slowing tumor growth. Colon cancer is the second most common cancer in many Western countries. It is much more prevalent in the industrialized world than in developing nations in Asia and Africa. The main treatment is surgery to remove the cancerous area of the bowel and chemotherapy if the disease has spread.

A study in the March 27, 2000 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine reports that people on high blood pressure medications may be able to reduce the amount of medicine they take if they substitute extra-virgin olive oil for other types of fats in their diet. "The most important finding in this study is that the daily use of olive oil, about 40 grams per day, markedly reduces the dosage of [blood pressure medication] by about 50% in hypertensive patients on a previously stable drug dosage," says L. Aldo Ferrara, MD, associate professor of internal medicine at the Frederico II University of Naples in Naples, Italy, and the study's lead author. Forty grams per day of extra-virgin olive oil amounts to about four tablespoons, Ferrara tells WebMD. That is the amount men in this study consumed, with women consuming about three tablespoons. Each study participant had high blood pressure and was on medicine to control it. Each ate a diet comprised of 17% protein, 57% carbohydrates, 35 grams of fiber, and 26% total fats with 5.8% saturated fats, per day for six months. Participants were assigned to receive the majority of their fats from either extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil. Then each participant was switched to the other type of oil for an additional six months. During the 12-month study, regular measurements of blood pressure were taken, and when blood pressure fell, the dose of blood pressure medication was reduced. "Daily dosage of [blood pressure medication] was reduced by 48% during the olive oil diet and by 4% during the sunflower oil diet," reports Ferrara. "In particular, blood pressure was controlled without any medication in eight patients during the olive oil diet but none during the sunflower oil diet. Ferrara explains that only extra-virgin olive oil contains antioxidants called "polyphenols," which he and his fellow researchers think may be responsible for the drop in blood pressure seen in this study. Polyphenols are completely absent from sunflower oil, according to Ferrara and colleagues.

Evidence is also growing that olive oil can protect against bowel cancer. Research carried out by doctors at Oxford University has found that olive oil has protective benefits. They found that it reacts with acid in the stomach to prevent the onset of bowel and rectum cancers.