Health benefits of olive oil  

Over and over again, hundreds of researches all over the world have demonstrated that  the olive oil helps to reduce heart disease and many other positive effects on your health.  Olive oil is known to help reduce LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein), or bad  cholesterol.  It has positive effects on risk factors for diseases like diabetes, and on the gastrointestinal functions and is rich in anti-oxidants.

Is olive oil truly good for your diet?

Olive oil is a naturally good food. It is the only edible oil that is produced by simply squeezing the olive fruit without heat or further processing. It has positive effects on the level of cholesterol in the body. In fact, it is one of the vegetable oils that help to conserve  “good cholesterol” (HDL) and to reduce the “bad cholesterol” (LDL), preventing the risk of hearth diseases.

Has olive oil bad side effects?

With references to the most recent dietetic recommendations olive oil has no bad side effectsr. Naturally, a balanced diet all classes of foods would have  to be  represented (all cereals, vegetables, fruit, legumes, milk and dairy, fish, meats, and oils), in the right proportions. Also in the effort to lose weight we have to control the total caloric contribution of each food we eat and not the fat intake.

What "free-radicals" are and is it true  that olive oil neutralizes them?

Free radicals are chemical compounds that are electronically unbalanced which are highly reactive molecules and are products of incomplete reaction  in the metabolism of oxygen that, when in excess, can be highly dangerous to our bodies. The lipids (fats) contained in our bodies are subject to oxidation and the production of free radicals which can then reach the status of rancidness, bad smell and the loss of nutritional valences. Olive oil has the remarkable advantage of being composed mostly of oleic acid which is  less vulnerable to these phenomena, and contains natural anti-oxidants that can protect  from the attack of the free radicals.

No, There is the common misconception that the fat you eat equals the fat in your body. This is very far from true. Most of the fat in our bodies comes from sugars and carbohydrates. This happens because sugar is immediately absorbed into the blood stream. Since our bodies have to limit the sugar level, the excess of sugar is stored in the liver to be eventually used later. Since we continue to eat ( we sure do not wait for starvation) this sugar will not be used and our body starts the process of long term storage that means transforming sugar into fat. On the other hand, fats are digested slowly so they are put in use as soon as they are available.  Fats are essential in our diet. The lipids, or fats, have many functions: constitutional, being part of the composition of biological membranes and going to form some hormones, and energetic, representing a reservoir of energy always on hand in the body. The lipids represent the best source of energy. For instance, each gram of proteins or carbohydrates (starch or sugars) gives approximately 4 kcal (kilocalorie); while one gram of lipids gives about 9 kcal.

The greater part of studies for the prevention of chronic arterial degeneration (arteriosclerosis) and the consequent damage to our health has demonstrated that it is possible to reduce the total cholesterol  and LDL, avoiding the successive chain of injurious events, when fat acids (monounsaturated or polyunsaturated) replace saturate fat acids .

The olive oil, for its elevated content  in monounsaturated fat acids, constitutes an ideal substitute for the saturated fats that are in excess in the diet of western world populations, Therefore, olive oil is one of the healthiest fats in our diet.

I’ve heard that olive oil is an anti-oxidant. Why is that important?

Free radicals, which are produced for oxidation of various substances, can cause damage to cells and therefore promote the cardiovascular chronic-degenerate diseases and carcinogenesis.   Anti-oxidant substances have a protective function that is particularly effective against free radicals.  Types of anti-oxidants are:  vitamins A, E, and C, and bioflavonoid.  Polyphenols are also capable of blocking free radicals. Olive oil is a natural source of anti-oxidants – it contains vitamin E, falconoid, phenols and pirrolici pigments.  As you may be aware, the Mediterranean diet, for years the center of attention of students, assures a good contribution of anti-oxidants.  Olive oil is just one of the hinges of this positive alimentary model.

Certainly. In pregnancy the diet does not differ much  from  one corrected feeding of the people generally  There are some specific recommendations tied to the presence of a new organism in formation: therefore, reasonable increase of the calorie totals , increment of the contribution in proteins and attention to one adequate assumption of minerals and vitamins. Together with the advice of milk and other foods with high  biological value (meats, eggs, fish), veggies and  fresh fruits (rich of vitamins, minerals and fiber) it comes suggested to flavor the dishes with olive oil, to ensure a quota of  good fat acid  monounsaturated (oleic) and essential fat acid (linoleic), necessary for an optimal development of the nervous system of the new born.

Of course. Since the age of the weaning, the baby foods made up of cereals and meat, with adding of grain or parmesan, shall be completed with small amounts of fat as extra virgin olive oil. The olive oil will continue then to being for all infancy and the adolescence as preferred dressing, because a good amount good oleic acid, of easy digestion, and very good for  energy production , and of fat acids like the linoleic fundamental for the growing organisms.

Yes. In the diet of who it makes sport, also to agonistic levels, the use of a olive oil dressing offers, beyond to the nutritional guarantees of a natural product, the advantage of an optimal digestibility. Compare to other fats, the olive oil induces in fact an express emptying of the stomach., shortening  the times of digestion; it  help  contrasting the excess of gastric acidity, thanks to the stimulus exercised on the secretion of able substances to mitigate it; it stimulates the activity of the gall bladder, favoring in such a way the emulsion and the digestion of the fat in the small intestine.

We have already seen as it is opportune to adopt such dietetic to favor the maintenance of low levels of cholesterol in the blood, without moreover to favor the formation of free radicals, potentially injurious for the health; this is worth to all the ages, but it is particular importance in the advanced ages of life. The olive oil satisfies these requirements at the same time assures the assumption of good amount of fat  (in a position to supplying optimal contributions of calories) and some vitamins (A, D, E, K) normally through fat substances, of which easy in the old the deficiency can be established, with damage for the health. Not to then forget the aspect about the optimal taste: to confer taste to the dishes can only contribute to the improvement of the aliment of the older subjects in which, for various reasons of health and associate-economic nature, not very rarely it is assisted to rebelling of  diseases due to  nutritional deficiencies. The olive oil, at last, is easy digestible and has a slightly an laxative action, good in age in which commonly manifest of constipation.

The health of the cute and its annexed ones, like hair, depends in considerable way from a corrected contribution in nourishing substances, from the moment that, for definition, these tissues are, in our organism, those mainly subject to an express regeneration. The olive oil, with its essential fat acid content, that the organism is not in a position to producing and with its favoring action the absorption of many vitamins, represents an ideal food, from this point of view, especially if consumed as raw, in combination to veggies. The olive oil moreover is a source of natural, precious anti-oxidants against the free radicals, more and more often pointed as cause cellular aging.