I wrote about the benefits of olive oil in 2012 for the El Paso Times - when the newspaper covered local news along with the rest of the world. Yesterday (Monday, July 18, 2017) the El Paso Times carried a USA Today science writer's story about olive oil preventing dementia (Alzheimers included). Yeah - in mice! Can't believe there was no mention of the creatures in the headline and wonder how many people will rush out to buy EVOO.
Facts: Olive oil has numerous health benefits - diseases relating to heart, blood pressure, protecting LDL particles from oxidation, and more.
are."
Facts: Olive oil has numerous health benefits - diseases relating to heart, blood pressure, protecting LDL particles from oxidation, and more.
Dementia?
Not yet – just mice studies and guessing about people.
Previous studies reported beneficial effects
of the Mediterranean diet (MedDiet) on cognitive function, but results were
inconsistent. (One study compared a MEDiet to a low-fat diet and conjectured that the MedDiet may have been slightly more beneficial - but that diet included nuts and other goodies in addition to the olive oil!)
So ignore the false health claims from USA Today and the El Paso Times (unless you're a mouse) BUT - use olive oil in your cooking - not only salads but cakes, stews and more. Read the label carefully (origin, extra virgin, etc and date) Olive oil benefits deteriorate with time - so buy what you need for a few months at a time.
The late Marcella Hazan, author of the cookbook Marcella
Cucina, wrote the following:
"The taste of a dish for which you need olive oil will
be as good or as ordinary as the oil you use. A sublime one can lift even
modest ingredients to eminent heights of flavor; a dreary oil will pull the
best ingredients down to its own level. Partial clues to the quality of the
olive oil you are buying are supplied by the label and the price, but
ultimately, the only way to determine which one, among those available, is
right for you is to taste and compare."
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