Health Benefits Of Olive Oil
The health benefits of olive oil are many because of its healthy monosaturated fats. The extra-virgin olive oil ranks as the most easily digested edible fat. It helps the body to use vitamin A, D and K. Olive oil contains essential acids that humans can't produce. It helps the liver functions and works with the small intestines and colon to improve their ability. Olive oil also slows down the process of aging and makes delicious salad dressing or combined with garlic for a bread dip.
When you substitute olive oil for other oils in your diet, you help your heart. Hardening of the arteries begins with LDL particles sticking to the walls of the arteries when it oxidizes and then building until the artery is so narrow now blood passes so the heart has to work harder. Eventually, you work your heart too hard and you have a stroke or heart attack. One of olive oil's components, oleuropein, helps to prevent the LDL from oxidizing and forming the plaque so you eliminate one potential risk.
The oleic acid in olive oil also reduces the effect on the body's oncogenes. These genes turn the cells that contain them into cancer cells. The type of cell that oleic acid affects is found in rapid growth breast cancer tumors. The scientists found that when they combined the oleic acid with drug therapy it increased the effectiveness of the drug therapy to induce the self-destruction of these often treatment-resistant cells. The use of olive oil to fight both endometrial cancer and prostate cancer also. A study published in the 2003 November issue of "Food Chemistry Toxicology" indicates that olive oil's antioxidants also reduce the carcinogens that form when you cook meat. This protects the cells from colon carcinogenic materials from the meat.
Olive oil also helps diabetics. Often
diabetics or those at risk for diabetes are encouraged to eat a diet that contains not only a diet that is high in carbohydrates and low in fat, but also include olive oil in their diet. The olive oil lowers trigylceride levels and the diet combination helps control the blood sugar level better than a normal low-fat meal.
The
healthy fats in a bottle of olive oil also gives the body a boost to produce natural anti-inflammatory agents. Immediately you think of arthritis and asthma and olive oil does help those conditions, but it may help with osteoporosis and dementia too. If the cells are inflamed, they aren't as fluid and able to transfer nutrients into the cells and excrete the waste. Scientists believe that this important fact and the link between lower osteoporosis and dementia in areas where people eat large amounts of olive oil create a need for further investigation.
One study found that the simple substitution of olive oil for saturated fats created a
dramatic weight loss with no additional effort. In a study where two groups ate the same foods and maintained the same level of exercise, one group lost more weight and body fat. The only difference was that the group that lost weight substituted olive oil for the saturated fats in their diets.
When you buy olive oil make sure you get extra virgin or first cold press olive oil as that contains all the good stuff in the greatest quantities. Here is one of the
best places for quality olive oil.
Olive oil has so many benefits, it's no wonder it was revered as a valuable medicine in ancient times. The only problem is trying to figure out whether you're including olive oil in your diet because of the great taste of olive oil or the
health benefits of olive oil.
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Health Benefits Of Olive Oil