Your Health
The daily life of the people in Greece revolts around olive oil, their habits, their cuisine, their economy, in sum, their culture. The olive tree, the olives themselves and the olive oil are a way of life rooted in Greece since the times of the fenicians, the romans and the arabs, which created beliefs, miths, cures and cultural events centuries old.
Popular beliefs bestow healing and beneficial properties for the health on Olive Oil. These popular beliefs are only reinforced and confirmed by recent research results. The list of the healthy properties of Olive Oil consumption and of its use as skin treatments have dramatically grown in the last few years, making of Olive Oil one of the pillars of the Mediterranean diet and a first class natural product.

Healthy Benefits of Olive Oil

Beyond the flavorful taste, there are many health benefits of olive oil. It’s naturally free of cholesterol, trans fat, salt, sugar, and gluten. In addition, olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat (that’s the good kind).
According to medical experts, these essential properties give olive oil health benefits. It helps protect against heart disease, aids in digestion, and has been known to promote healthy aging. Promote healthy eating habits for you and your family by making olive oil a delicious, nutritious addition to your diet.


The benefits of Olive Oil consumption for the health have been known since the Antiquity. Already Hipocrates, Galeno or Dioscorides wrote treatises on the subject. In modern times, scientific research has confirmed the old beliefs and techniques used by the ancient civilizations in the area of the Mediterranean sea.

In mediterranean countries, in which Olive Oil is used on a regular basis, the incidence of chronic diseases is one of the lowest world-wide and the life expectancy is among the highest. As a result, the mediterranean diet is considered a healthy life-style worth following.

In the last few decades, Olive Oil and especially Virgin Olive Oil has emerged as a healthy ingredient with a large number of positive effects on human health. This is mainly due to its high amount of monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid) and antioxidant components (vitamin E and phenolic compounds).
Regular consumption of Olive Oil modifies the composition of fatty acids in the adipose tissue, giving it a particularly high fraction of oleic acid, that favours the correct profile of fatty acids in the cells.

Facts about Fat
Nearly every nutrition expert agrees that a moderate amount of fat consumption plays an important role in eating a healthy diet. It provides our bodies with energy, is essential for growth and development, and is necessary for absorbing vitamins.

What are fats?
Fat is a nutrient with important functions. Among them:
n It’s a rich source of energy. In fact, fats produce more than double the energy acquired from carbohydrates or proteins.
n It’s a carrier for vitamins A, D, E and K.
n It provides linoleic and alpha-linolenic acid, essential polyunsaturated fatty acids.
n It contributes flavor and a sense of “fullness” when part of an eating healthy diet. 
However, it’s important to know that there are good fats and bad fats.

What are good fats to eat?
As part of eating a healthy diet, you need to consume moderate amounts of good fats. These good fats include:
Monounsaturated fat — This is the primary fat source found in olive oil. Unsaturated fat, can help lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. In fact, due to its high concentration of monounsaturated fat, olive oil can actually help to lower LDL (bad) cholesterol. This is the main reason why olive oil is considered to be healthy for us.
Polyunsaturated fat — Found in nuts, fish, sunflower oil, corn oil, and of course olive oil, polyunsaturated fat helps to maintain heart health and lower blood cholesterol levels.
Olive oil in a fancy glass bottle
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fat — Found in fatty fishes like salmon or in vegetable oils, omega-3 polyunsaturated fat is truly brain food. It has been proven to promote mental acuity and brain development.

What are bad fats to eat?
If you’re committed to eating a healthy diet, you should try to avoid the following fats:
Saturated fats — Found in lard, butter, hard cheeses, whole milk, animal fats, palm oil, and coconut oils, saturated fats are known to raise blood cholesterol levels, increase the risk of heart disease, and contribute to other health problems. Nutritionists and dietitians strongly recommend that you avoid these fats as much as possible.
Trans fat — Typically found in meat, dairy products, margarine, and nearly any food containing the word “hydrogenated” on its label, trans fats can raise your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels. 

Fat and Olive oil?
Olive oil is widely known to be high in monounsaturated (good) fat. It contains zero trans (bad) fats and is lower in saturated (bad) fat than other commonly used ingredients such as shortening and butter. Simply put, olive oil is one of the best ways to add good fat to your diet and avoid bad fat. 

Olive Oil and the Cardiovascular System

Olive oil is the main source of dietary fat in the Mediterranean diet, which is associated with a low death rate from cardiovascular diseases compared to other parts of the world.

According to a study published in the journal Pharmacological Research, researchers found that people who regularly consume olive oil are much less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (high blood pressure), stroke, and hyperlipidemia (high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels).
Covas also found that regular olive oil intake helps reduce inflammation, endothelial dysfunction (problems with the inner linings of blood vessels), thrombosis and carbohydrate metabolism. Covas concluded "The wide range of anti-atherogenic effects associated with olive oil consumption could contribute to explain the low rate of cardiovascular mortality found in Southern European Mediterranean countries, in comparison with other western countries, despite a high prevalence of coronary heart disease risk factors."
People who consumed about 2 tablespoons (25 ml) of virgin olive oil daily for 1 week showed less oxidation of LDL cholesterol and higher levels of antioxidant compounds, particularly phenols, in the blood. It is clear by now, that while all olive oil types are sources of monounsaturated fat, it is the Extra Virgin olive oil that contains higher levels of antioxidants, particularly vitamin E and phenols, because it is less processed.

Depression risk is lower with Olive Oil

People whose diets are high in trans fats - fast foods and mass-produced foods like pastries - may have a higher risk of depression, compared with those whose diets are rich in mono- and polyunsaturated fats. According to a study carried out at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain and published in PLoS ONE,olive oil appears to have a slight protective effect regarding depression risk.  
When they compared the volunteers who consumed trans fats regularly with individuals whose dietary fat consisted primarily of olive oil, the trans fat consumers had a 48% higher risk of developing depression.
The amount of trans fat consumed was directly related to depression risk - the more they ate, the higher the risk.

Olive Oil may reduce breast cancer risk

A team of scientists at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain found a key mechanism by which virgin olive oil protects the body against breast cancer, in contrast to other vegetable oils. The researchers decoded a complete cascade of signals within the cells of breast tumors that are activated by virgin olive oil. They concluded that the oil reduces the activity of p21Ras, an oncogene, prevents DNA damage, encourages tumor cell death, and triggers changes in protein signaling pathways. 
While corn oil - which is rich in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids - increased the aggressiveness of tumors, virgin olive oil had the opposite effect. Virgin olive oil is linked to a higher incidence of benign (non-cancerous) breast tumors.

Olive Oil helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels

A Japanese study published in the Medical Science Monitor showed that LDL-cholesterol mean concentrations were lowered in 28 outpatients who were given olive oil supplements once a day for six weeks. 
LDL (low density lipoprotein) is often referred to as "bad cholesterol". The "good cholesterol" is called HDL (high density lipoprotein). These results point to an overwhelmingly beneficial influence of olive oil on the lipoprotein spectrum.

Olive Oil protects against Alzheimer's

Oleocanthal is a type of natural phenolic compound found in extra-virgin olive oil. In laboratory experiments with mice, researchers discovered that oleocanthal helps shuttle the abnormal Alzheimer's disease proteins out of the brain. As background information, the researchers explained that Alzheimer's disease rates are lower in Mediterranean countries, where consumption of olive oil is higher than anywhere else in the world. They found that in both cultured brain cells and the mice's brains themselves oleocanthal consistently boosted the production of two proteins and key enzymes known to be vital in the removal of beta-amyloid from the brain.
Extra-virgin olive oil-derived oleocanthal associated with the consumption of Mediterranean diet has the potential to reduce the risk of AD or related neurodegenerative dementias.

Olive Oil as an Anti-Inflammatory Ingredient

A daily dose of olive oil may act as a natural pain reliever, according to a new study that shows the Mediterranean staple contains an anti-inflammatory ingredient. Researchers say they've discovered a previously unknown ingredient in freshly pressed, extra virgin olive oils that acts as a natural anti-inflammatory, much like nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as aspirin or ibuprofen. 
They say the soothing effects of the enzyme, which they named oleocanthal, may be responsible for some of the health benefits associated with the Mediterranean diet, such as a reduced risk of stroke, heart disease, breast cancer, lung cancer, and some forms of dementia, all of which have been linked to inflammation. Researchers say they began researching the potential anti-inflammatory properties of olive oil after observing that fresh extra-virgin olive oil irritates the back of the throat in the same way that NSAIDs do. 
After isolating the throat-irritating enzyme, they found that it also inhibited the inflammatory activity of Cox-1 and Cox-2 like the anti-inflammatory drugs. Inhibiting these reactions impedes the production of the chemical messengers that cause the pain and swelling of arthritis inflammation. 
50 gram (1.75 ounce) daily dose of olive oil is equivalent to about 10% of the ibuprofen dose recommended for adult pain relief. That dose is relatively low and won't relieve a headache, but researchers say low doses of other anti-inflammatory agents, like aspirin, have been shown to provide substantial health benefits when taken consistently over time. The finding is significant because chronic inflammation is increasingly thought to play a role in a variety of diseases, from heart disease to cancer.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil protects the liver 

Investigators at the University of Monastir, Tunisia, and King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, carried out a study demonstrating that extra virgin olive oil may protect the liver from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress refers to cell damage associated with the chemical reaction between free radicals and other molecules in the body. Put simply, oxidative stress means cell damage.
In this study, which was published in BioMed Central, Mohamed Hammami and colleagues reported that laboratory rats exposed to a moderately toxic herbicide that were fed on a diet containing olive oil were partially protected from liver damage.
"Olive oil is an integral ingredient in the Mediterranean diet. There is growing evidence that it may have great health benefits including the reduction in coronary heart disease risk, the prevention of some cancers and the modification of immune and inflammatory responses. Here, we've shown that extra virgin olive oil and its extracts protect against oxidative damage of hepatic tissue".

Olive Oil protects from ulcerative colitis

Ulcerative colitis, a fairly common long-term (chronic) disorder, is a disease that causes inflammation of the large intestine (colon). It is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that is similar to Crohn's disease, a related disorder.
Scientists at the University of East Anglia in England say that consuming more olive oil could help fend off ulcerative colitis. Dr Andrew Hart and team gathered and analyzed data on more than 25,000 people living in Norfolk, England. They were aged between 40 and 65 years. The volunteers were part of the EPIC study (European Prospective Investigation into Diet and Cancer), spanning from 1993 to 1997. None of them had ulcerative colitis at the start of the study.
The researchers discovered that the participants with the highest intake of oleic acid - a component of olive oil - had a 90% lower risk of developing ulcerative colitis compared to those with the lowest intake.
Oleic acid seems to help prevent the development of ulcerative colitis by blocking chemicals in the bowel that aggravate the inflammation found in this illness. We estimate that around half of the cases of ulcerative colitis could be prevented if larger amounts of oleic acid were consumed. Two-to-three tablespoons of olive oil per day would have a protective effect.

What is the nutritional value of 100g (3.5oz) of olive oil?

Energy - 3,701 kJ (885 kcal)
Carbohydrates - 0 g
Fat - 100 g.
- saturated 14 g
- monounsaturated 73 g
- polyunsaturated 11 g
- omega-3 fat <1.5 g
- omega-6 fat 3.5-21 g
Protein - 0 g
Vitamin E - 14 mg (93% of recommended daily intake for adults)
Vitamin K - 62 μg (59% of recommended daily intake for adults).