Beneficial properties of Olive Oil

The olive oil is not only beneficial by its nutritional character, but also it has extraordinary curative and healthful properties. Although it is necessary to indicate that the olive oil in our days does not own the divine character that is attributed to him at other times, nor the condition of essential energetic source in the feeding, but represents the new myth of the health and of the preoccupation by a healthy and balanced diet, besides constituting that ancestral component that all we have conserved in our habits and customs. All those factors maintain the prevalence of this wonderful product that somebody has baptized as “LIQUID GOLD”, therefore the olive oil is considered as an element half food half medicine.

The olive oil, symbol of our Mediterranean diet, is the fat with which better the foods are fried, since it forms one more consistent layer around them. Thanks to it, the foods retain their juice and they do not absorb more oil. Although it can reach high temperatures (180ºC), it is the oil that suffers less alterations during the heating, reason why it can be reused many times more than other oils. In addition it is the vegetal oil that contributes with a greater number of beneficial factors for our health.

Studies realized by the department of Cardiology and Clinical Biochemistry of the Medicine of the University of Zaragoza evidenced that the substituting of the sunflower oil use by olive oil during ten weeks reduced in average a 13% of the sanguineous cholesterol. The olive oil exerts great influence on the organism; next we will detail the effects on the different body systems.

On the digestive apparatus:

• The secretion of the gastric acidity falls.
• The secretory activity of the pancreas falls without affecting the digestibility of the foods.
• It improves the emptying of the biliary vesicle, which avoids the formation of biliary stones.
• It improves the intestinal absorption of diverse nutrients, especially the inorganic ones; correcting diseases like the anaemia (it improves the absorption of iron).

On the cardiovascular system:

• It brings about a diminution of the total cholesterol in blood.
• Cholesterol LDL falls (the bad one).
• It does not modify the cholesterol levels HDL (the good one).
• It stimulates the production of vasodilators (it improves the fluidity of the blood).
• The capacity of oxidation of cholesterol LDL falls, which avoids the infarct by ateroma.
• The arterial pressure falls.

On the oxidating processes:

• The olive oil is a great impediment for the cellular oxidation, reason why it contributes to prevent many diseases and, even, the premature oldness.
• On the diabetes patients: It improves the lipidic profile of the patient.
• The glucaemia falls, which allows to reduce the daily doses of insulin.