Is Olive Oil really Liquid Gold for our bodies?

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IN TODAY’S ISSUE
Is Olive Oil really Liquid Gold for our bodies?

Olive Oil is a staple in the “Mediterranean Diet”.

Referred to the Mediterranean diet due to it being the name for the types of foods eaten by nations that border the mediterranean sea, i.e, Spain, Greece, Italy etc.

The diet consists mostly of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, dairy, eggs, fish, poultry, and with olive oil being the primary source of added fat. A fat source which is high in monounsaturated fats.

So what exactly are the health benefits associated with Olive Oil, do the health benefits apply when cooked (exposed to high heat) and is there a difference between consuming Extra Virgin Olive Oil vs Olive Oil?

What You'll Find Out

• 🤓 Extra Virgin Olive Oil vs Olive Oil

• 👉 Potential Health Benefits

• ❌ Other Effects

• ✍️ TL:DR - Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

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IS THE EXTRA COST NEEDED?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil vs Olive Oil

Is there really a difference other than the cost to our wallets?

Well it turns out, there is.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) is the highest quality olive oil you can buy, it is cold pressed within 24 to 72 hours of harvesting. Mechanical or hand pressing are the only methods used to obtain extra virgin olive oil. No heat or chemical processes are used. This process protects chemicals in the oil called phenols along with other antioxidants and vitamins, something that is lost in regular olive oil as it chemical processes remove these phenols and other beneficial properties from the oil. Phenols are strong antioxidants and radical scavengers, (Tuck & Hayball, 2002)

Olive Oil (OO) is refined, this can be done through various processes, these processes remove the beneficial health properties associated with extra virgin olive oil.

A large study by (Donat-Vargas et al., 2022) which included a total of 12,161 individuals, lasting just over 10 years, found that:

WHATS UP?
Potential Health Benefits.

A large study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology by (Guasch-Ferré et al., 2022) which included 60,582 woman and 30,801 men over the course of 28 years, looked at the consumption of Olive Oil and risk of total and cause-specific mortality among U.S. adults.

Higher olive oil intake was found to result in:

• 19% lower risk of cardiovascular disease.

• 17% lower risk of cancer mortality.

• 29% lower risk of neurodegenerative disease mortality

• 18% lower risk of respiratory disease mortality

The authors also found that replacing 10g/day of margarine, butter, mayonnaise or dairy fat with olive oil resulted in 8%-34% lower risk of total and cause-specific mortality.

Note: This was an observational study, the participants reported details about their health and dietary habits every two years. This cannot be a solid “yes” that olive oil lengthens life.

A cohort study carried out within the population of Pizarra (Spain), by (Soriguer et al., 2009) which included 613 adults, compared sunflower oil vs olive oil with regards to the risk of developing obesity. The study lasted 6 years, and found that 41.5 cases out of 1000 person-years resulted in obesity risk from the consumption of sunflower oil vs 17.3/1000 person-years from olive oil.

The authors state the increase in the prevalence of obesity is associated with the type of fatty acids in the diet.

A narrative review of 34 articles by (Flynn et al., 2023), came to some beneficial conclusions when using olive oil as part of a healthy diet.

FRY ME
Can You Cook With Olive Oil?

It’s long been thought that you shouldn’t cook with olive oil, as it will lose its health properties.

HEALTH PROPERTIES
A study by (Ramírez-Anaya et al., 2015) found that when cooking with extra virgin olive oil, the phenols contained in the olive oil didn’t “burn off” or get destroyed but instead, transferred into the food. Potatoes fried in EVOO contained more phenols and antioxidants than potatoes boiled in water.

TRANS FATS
The worst kind of fat for your health.

Research carried out by (De Alzaa F, Guillaume C, and Ravetti L., 2018), compared various different oils commonly used for cooking including; EVOO, VOO, OO, Canola, Grapeseed, Coconut, Sunflower, Rice and Peanut Oil.

As we can see from their findings, EVOO & VOO were the lowest initial trans fat containing oils tested, once cooked they increased to similar levels to match Avocado and Coconut oils.

CHEMICAL CHANGES / SMOKE POINTS

When cooking oils the oil goes through chemical changes, ie., oxidation, hydrolysis etc… during this cooking oils can release harmful compounds referred to as polar compounds.

The above study, (De Alzaa F, Guillaume C, and Ravetti L., 2018), also examined this with EVOO against the same other oils and found that EVOO was the most stable when exposed to heat for the production of polar compounds, outperforming cooking oils that have a higher smoke point.

TL:DR
Key Takeaways & Practical Applications

In the world of nutrition science there will always be new evidence and data which will point one way or contradict a previous study.

The general body of literature regarding Olive Oil, points towards its health benefits. Whether you look at cultures that consume olive oil on a daily basis, or a set study which looks at consumption over a set period.

Regardless of health benefits, calories count. Don’t go out and guzzle down a bottle of Olive Oil, the amount of fat consumed would then lead to increased body fat which would negate all the potential health benefits associated with olive oil, as being overweight comes with it’s own downsides.

That’s it for today ✌️

If you have any questions you’d like answered, topics you would like discussed, or perhaps some feedback, email them over to me at: [email protected]

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