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29 Kislev 5764 - December 24, 2003 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Olive Oil Benefits
by Yated Ne'eman Staff

Chanukah always sets us to thinking about olive oil, because of the signature miracle. According to modern research, olive oil is very good for eating as well as for lighting candles.

Olive oil is said to reduce the risk of heart disease, when part of a healthy diet. Even people that consume a high-fat diet yet include olive oil have lower rates of heart disease.

Olive oil contains monounsaturated fat (one of the good fats that actually helps you to lose weight) so if you replace a high-fat diet with olive oil as a component, you reduce your intake of saturated fats and thus lower the LDL cholesterol levels in your body. (LDL is the bad cholesterol and HDL is good.) The beneficial high-density proteins are left alone, and thus the dangerous, artery-clogging fat does not continue to accumulate.

In addition to the benefits of the monounsaturated fats in olive oil, there are several other compounds that can benefit your health. These can stop damage in your arteries before it starts. Polyphenols are powerful antioxidants found in olive oil. These antioxidants disable the free radical oxygen molecules produced naturally by your body. This keeps the free radicals from attacking the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL) which lowers the chances that they will stick to artery walls, clogging them and causing heart disease. The conclusion? Adding olive oil to your diet can help to keep your arteries clear.

In addition to being beneficial to your heart, researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and the Athens School of Public Health studied the effects of olive oil on more than 2,300 women. They discovered that women who consumed olive oil more than once a day had a 25 percent lower risk of breast cancer, and in fact the female population of Greece is much less likely to die from breast cancer than women in the United States. They believe the high concentration of vitamin E, which has been proven to slow or stop cell damage, found in olive oil, as well as the polyphenols, contribute to this benefit.

One form of a polyphenol -- resveratrol -- is found in red wine and is known to improve cardiovascular health and may even fight some forms of cancer.

There are three types of olive oil:

1. Extra-Virgin Olive Oil -- is derived from the first press of the ripe olive. It is often used for food flavoring rather than for cooking purposes. It contains the highest density of polyphenols.

2. Pure Olive Oil -- can be used to cook foods. It contains higher levels of monounsaturated fats and lower levels of polyphenols.

3. Light Olive Oil -- maintains a less distinctive taste than the aforementioned types and is used for cooking at high heats.

The British medical journal Gut says work by scientists at University Hospital Germans Trias Pujol in Barcelona found that laboratory rats fed a cancer-inducing agent developed fewer tumors when olive oil was included in their diet. The active anti-cancer ingredient appears to be the flavenoids in the oil.

Flavenoids are antioxidants abundant in tea, wine, apples and onions, all of which have been found to provide health benefits of their own. In the Barcelona research, olive oil seemed to work better than safflower and fish oil in the rats' diet.

Professor Miguel Gassull, who led the research, says flatly, the research showed olive oil significantly inhibited the development of cancer of the colon. The test animals fed on the oil were found to have lower levels of arachidonate, a chemical known to promote the growth of cancer cells.

Unlike other oils, olive oil should be kept cool, either in the refrigerator or other dark cool spot. This will ensure that your olive oil maintains its protective qualities, as well as its great taste.

 

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