EVOO Health Benefits
Our bodies need fat. Fat helps us absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K. It helps your body grow and develop. It keeps our joints working smoothly. Our hair and skin need it to stay soft and moisturized, not flaky and itchy.
The Canadian government’s Healthy Canada website says, “For good health, include a small amount (2-3 tablespoons or 30-45ml) of unsaturated fats each day.” And fat helps our brains, according to Psychology Today. Read the complete articles here: Healthy Canadians, Psychology Today
A diet where you use EVOO for cooking generally tends to increase vegetable intake (a key to good health) since it makes vegetables taste so much better. Also, using EVOO at meals helps people to eat less, because including fat in a meal makes the meal more satisfying and delays the onset of hunger after the meal. In fact, all fats do this, but EVOO is the best choice because it's a very healthy fat.
EVOO: The Healthiest Source of Fat
EVOO is considered a healthy fat, and here’s why.
"Like most unprocessed plant products, it contains a range of health-promoting phytonutrients. The phytonutrients in olive oil have been shown to decrease the oxidation of LDL (which would lower heart disease risk) and DNA (which would lower cancer risk). Other phytonutrients in olive oil have been shown to decrease blood levels of glucose and insulin; decrease blood pressure; decrease blood coagulation; and decrease inflammation.
"This makes extra virgin olive oil very different from seed oils, like soybean, safflower, corn, and canola oil, which have undergone a refining process that destroys phytonutrients. Refined olive oil, typically labeled 'olive oil' in stores, also lacks phytonutrients.
"Take-away point: buy only extra virgin olive oil!" - Mary Flynn, PhD, RD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island
The benefits of a diet containing regular intake of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and the idea that a diet rich in high quality fats can actually keep you healthy, are being proved again and again. We invite you to click here to view a special report from The Olive Oil Times on Olive Oil Health Benefits.
If you don’t prefer to click away, then here’s a little summary for you. Studies are showing EVOO:
- Reduces the risk of type II diabetes by almost 50 per cent
- Reverses damage done to arteries
- Reduces the risk of depression
- Counters the oxidizing effects of the sun and slows down skin cancer
- Reduces oxidative stress, and can protect against Alzheimers
- Increases lycopene when cooking tomatoes. (Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant with many health benefits, including sun protection, improved heart health and a lower risk of certain types of cancer.)
How Heat Affects EVOO Health Benefits
"High quality extra virgin olive oil can be heated to 420°F before it reaches smoke-point (ie begins to smoke and starts to form unhealthy compounds), which is higher than nearly every other vegetable oil.
"Olive oil is much more stable when heated compared to most vegetable oil.
"Cooking with olive oil below the smoke-point does not destroy most of its health benefits, or make it less healthy – under normal cooking conditions, most of the therapeutic minor components are retained. Some studies have subjected olive oil to high temperatures (180°C/356°F) for long periods of time (from 90 minutes to over 20 hours). These conditions do tend to decrease the content of some phytonutrients, yet even under such extreme conditions, some phytonutrients remain." - Mary Flynn, PhD, RD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine at Brown University’s Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island
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We find all this information incredibly exciting!
There certainly is something to this timeless product that people have known about for thousands of years. Great flavour is a wonderful thing to experience, but the remarkable thing about EVOO is that our tastebuds are alerting us to the presence of something extraordinary. Our bodies are responding to healthful foods! Adding Extra Virgin Olive Oil to your diet will increase not only your enjoyment of food, but increase your health and wellbeing.
Come visit us to experience Super Premium Extra Virgin Olive Oil and enjoy a full tasting tour. Becoming familiar with fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil’s flavour characteristics and chemistry will help you make an educated decision about which olive oil is right for you.