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Footnote
Olive Oil seems better for your heart than other vegetable oils. Duh.Oct 2006
Make that a qualified duh. Saturated, polyunsaturated, monounsatured, trans-fats, all terms well-known to anyone concerned about their health. And olive oil has climbed to the top of the health heap owing to the fact that it has the highest content of heart-healthy monounsaturated fats. But a recent study in the Annals of Internal Medicine (September 5th, 2006) found convincing evidence that olive oils rich in polyphenols have a greater positive health effect than their refined brothers.
According to the study’s leading researcher, Dr. Maria-Isabel Covas, virgin olive oil is the only vegetable oil rich in polyphenols. However, polyphenols are essentially eliminated when the oil is refined, thus positive health effects seem dependent upon the quality of the individual oil. The study had 200 young and middle-aged men use each of three olive oils for three weeks (25 ml per day) in randomly assigned sequences (and to the exclusion of all other dietary fats). The oils had low (2.7 mg/kg of olive oil), medium (164 mg/kg) or high (366 mg/kg) levels of polyphenols but otherwise were similar (medium was essentially a mixture of high and low). The conclusion: There was a linear increase in HDL (high-density lipoprotein) cholesterol levels (the good cholesterol) and decreased serum markers of oxidation (the process which leads to hardening of the arteries) correlating with the increased level of polyphenols. A triglyceride decrease was noted for each of the olive oils.
What other conclusion can be drawn? If you know that the amount of polyphenol rich extra-virgin olive oil produced is far less than the amount sold, you can well imagine what is making up the difference. You got it. Refined olive oil. Olive Oil Contains Natural Anti-inflammatory AgentSep 2005
If you’ve ever had the good fortune of eating newly pressed olive oil, you might have noticed a stinging or peppery sensation in the back of your throat. When Dr. Gary Beauchamp (of the Monell Chemical Senses Center) experienced this sensation during a molecular gastronomy meeting in Sicily, he found it quite similar to those felt during sensory studies of ibuprofen and his curiosity was piqued. Now, thanks to his and a team of other scientists’ investigations, they may have unlocked one clue to the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet; the presence of a naturally occurring chemical found in extra-virgin olive oil which is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent (NSAID) named oleocanthal [for oleo (oil), canth (sting) and al (aldehyde)].
Dr. Paul Breslin, who co-directed the research, sums up the significance of their findings. “The Mediterranean diet, of which olive oil is a central component, has long been associated with numerous health benefits, including decreased risk of stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, and some dementias. Similar benefits are associated with certain NSAIDs, such as aspirin and ibuprofen. Now that we know of oleocanthal’s anti-inflammatory properties, it seems plausible that oleocanthal plays a causal role in the health benefits associated with diets where olive oil is the principle source of fat.” The problem scientists face when studying the health properties of natural products is that they are a complex mixture of chemicals. The team of scientists studied a variety of oils and were able to correlate the throaty bite with the concentration of a particular chemical, which they named oleocanthal. They then decided the only path to absolutely confirm the anti-inflammatory potential of olive oil was to synthesize the candidate chemical and test its drug-like activity. The tests confirmed that the substance has the same action as ibuprofen and other NSAIDs, namely the inhibition of the COX-1 and COX-2 enyzmes (COX is short for cyclooxygenase). Future research will aim to identify how oleocanthal inhibits COX enzymes and how this relates to throat sting.
For more information, please refer to the September 1st, 2005 Issue of Nature. German Periodical "Feinschmecker" Exposes Fraud in Supermarket Olive OilMay 2005
The food magazine "Feinschmecker" (Connoisseur) published an investigative article in its May 2005 edition exposing three German grocery chains (Lidl, Aldi and Edeka) for selling olive oil that does not match the extra virgin claims made on its label.
A testing procedure, the Serani method (introduced in 2001), can determine whether olive oil has been altered by a thermal process by analysing the ratio of 1,3-diglyceride to 1,2-diglyceride. 1,2-diglycerides naturally present in "cold pressed" olive oil are changed into 1,3-diglycerides when exposed to heat, making them a good marker for thermal treatment which may have been used for repressing sensory weaknesses and/or rancidness. It is also a cheaper production method with potentially greater yield. Thermal treatment can mean dispatching bad smell by treating oil with 170-212 Fahrenheit (80-100 Celsius) degree water pressure in a vacuum container and reducing acid content to "extra virgin" levels (under 0.8%) by adding alkalis. All the tested supermarket oils (sold under the trade names Bancetto - Edeka, Luccese - Lidl, Cantinelle - Aldi and Bio-Wertkost - from Edeka's organic line) were proven to have at least some element of the manipulated oil (in other words, not "cold pressed", or, as is currently the European standard, "not won only by mechanical means").1 In fact, oil labeled by these grocery stores as the highest quality could only be legitimately sold as the fifth level of quality (European standard VO (EG) Nr. 1513/2001), "Olive oil consisting of refined olive oil and native olive oil". According to the International Olive Council in Madrid, there were 3,162,000 tons of olive oil produced in 2003/2004. It is estimated that 5 percent is "extra virgin" (under 0.8% acidity), approx. 20 percent is "virgin" (under 2% acidity) and the bulk of the remainder is "olive oil" (refined olive oil and "ordinary virgin olive oil", a third category which may not have more than 3.3% acidity). The frightening question, of course, is where does the "refined oil" come from? (Lampante olive oil, for example, has more than 3.3% acidity and is not fit for human consumption without refining- produced from over-ripe olives which have fallen by themselves from the tree thereby saving the farmer the enormous harvesting labor costs). Of course, the joke is, what is the overwhelming majority of the olive oil in the supermarket labeled? "Extra Virgin", of course.
Keep in mind that these refined oils are also sold cheaply. None of the refined oils sold as "extra virgin" cost more than €2.60 per .75 liter bottle (except organic Bio Wertkost which was still only €5.60 per half liter) which should give you a good clue since this is under the production costs of true Italian "extra virgin". The cheapest "true" extra virgin compared in the same article was €10.00 per half liter for a Greek product. FDA Allows Qualified Health Claim for Olive Oil to Decrease Risk of Coronary Heart DiseaseNovember 1, 2004
The FDA announced today that they are granting a Qualified Health Claim2 for olive oil and this claim may be placed on olive oil food labels and foods that contain olive oil:
"Limited and not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that eating about 2 tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil. To achieve this possible benefit, olive oil is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day." |