I have had my patients use olive oil for their health since 1994. In this blog, I will discuss the health benefits of olive oil, and how to buy excellent quality olive oil.
Olive oil has been used for thousands of years as a staple part of one’s diet, and for its health benefits. My maternal grandmother was from Italy, and I grew up eating olive oil as a child. My mother is a gourmet cook, and I grew up tasting and eating excellent quality olive oil. Well, that’s what I thought. When I returned from my nine-day trip to Italy a few years ago, I had trouble eating the olive oils that I had been accustomed to eating. My favorite olive oils all tasted rancid. It took me a few weeks to forget the great tasting, excellent quality olive oil that I had in Italy and get used to the olive oil that I had been using.
I have always had an interest in lipid metabolism. My three greatest teachers on lipid metabolism were Drs. Mary Enig and Patricia Kane, and my histology professor in medical school, Dr. Bruce Lipton. I have seen the wrong type of dietary fats contribute or cause:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Cancer
- Heart disease
- Strokes
- Chronic fatigue
- Many chronic, degenerative diseases.
You can see why I hold this subject of lipid metabolism dear to my heart.
100% Extra Virgin olive oil is one of the best oils you can ever consume
Health benefits of olive oil
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Blood Pressure
Consuming daily two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) daily may lower blood pressure over a month. Olive oil with higher phenol content usually benefits lowering blood pressure better than EVOO with lower phenol content.
Phenols are antioxidants that give olive oil most of its health benefits. “Pure” or “light” olive oil has most of its phenols removed through filtration. Don’t consume these types of olive oils.
The phenol content will diminish as your olive oil ages. Phenols have a robust flavor and may be bitter. The bitterness is not to be confused with rancidity. I will talk about rancidity and how to store your olive oil later.
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Cancer
Doug, Zoli and I have been successfully treating cancer patients using our theory that cancer is a nutritional inadequacy disease. We use the ketogenic diet derived by Jan Kwasniewski, M.D. of Poland. This diet has 1 part protein, 2.5-3.5 parts fat and 0.3-0.5 part carbohydrate. Our cancer patients consume animal and vegetable fats such as pork and beef lard, duck fat, ghee, extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), coconut oil, palm oil, coco butter oil and avocado oil as part of their cancer protocols.
We have not yet determined the daily optimal amount of extra virgin olive oil, ghee, coconut oil, beef and pork lard for our cancer patients. On a diet consisting of 70-80% fat, our cancer patients and I can easily consume in a day 200 ml of EVOO.
Oleocanthal in EVOO has been shown to kill cancer cells and not harm normal cells. Olive oil contains Oleic Acid (C18:1), a monounsaturated omega-9 fatty acid which makes up 55 to 83% of olive oil, Linoleic Acid (C18:2), a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid which makes up about 3.5 to 21% of olive oil, and Palmitic Acid (C16:0), a saturated fatty acid which makes up 7.5 to 20% of olive oil.
The oleic acid in olive oil and our other lipids we use, with IV phosphatidylcholine, restores cell membrane integrity which helps to turn off cancer oncogenes and turn on tumor suppressor genes.
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Obesity and Type 2 Diabetes
Extra virgin olive oil, ghee, and coconut oils combined with Dr. Jan Kwasniewski’s ketogenic diet usually cures our patients of obesity and Type 2 diabetes in a few months. We also incorporate a specially designed fast into our obesity and diabetes protocol.
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Dry Skin
We use EVOO for all of our patients with dry skin and eczema. We also use estrogen, testosterone, progesterone, DHEA, pregnenolone, and thyroid hormone when a patient needs these hormones. We may also add evening primrose oil and acupressure food allergy treatments for our eczema patients. We do our best to have our patients drink an optimal amount of pure water (distilled water) daily. Many patients are suffering from chronic dehydration.
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Alzheimer’s Disease
We have many mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patient’s successfully restore their memories using our many nutritional and detoxification protocols. Our main protocols are the ketogenic diet of Jan Kwasniewski, M.D., detoxification using the FAR IR sauna, DMPS chelation, and our specially designed fast. All Alzheimer’s patients have Type 3 diabetes where their brain cells cannot utilize glucose but can use ketone bodies. Ketones are a byproduct of fat metabolism that the brain and body can use as a source of fuel. EVOO is combined with coconut oil and medium chain triglycerides (MCT) to achieve ketosis. We still have not worked out the optimal amount of EVOO. The phenols and other antioxidants in EVOO “quiet down” the chronic inflammation in an Alzheimer’s disease brain.
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Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular disease
We use IV EDTA and IV phosphatidylcholine for our patients with clogged arteries. We also use IV ozone, vitamins K and C, and magnesium. We again use EVOO as part of Dr. Jan
Kwasniewski’s ketogenic diet. We also utilize a specially designed fast that raises HDL (“good”) cholesterol and reverses atherosclerosis. Many studies show olive oil prevents heart disease and strokes.
What is pure extra virgin olive oil?
I will make it for you a little easier to find pure extra virgin olive oil. Sometimes it is not easy to find pure extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) because U.C. Davis Olive Center did a study on 186 extra virgin olive oils and found that 69% of the imported EVOO sold in California supermarkets did not qualify as extra virgin. Some of these olive oils are blended with canola oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, and soybean oil. Chlorophyll may also be added for the green color.
By the way, never consume the above-listed oils.
So what is extra virgin olive oil? The oil must come from fresh olives within 24 hours of harvest. It has to be extracted by mechanical means. These days most companies use a centrifuge instead of pressing the oil. It cannot be extracted with heat or chemicals
What to look for when purchasing extra virgin olive oil.
- The oil must be in a dark glass bottle or a tin to prevent oxidation
- The oil must not be treated chemically in any way
- Do not buy light or blended olive oil
- Look for a pressing date
- Look at the cost. A cheap oil may be tainted with other oils.
- A seal from the International Olive Oil Council (IOC)
- A seal from the California Olive Oil Council (COOC, Certified Extra Virgin)
- Seals from the Extra Virgin Alliance (EVA) and UNAPROL
- Seal from the Italian Olive Growers Association
- The North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) NAOOA Certified Oil stamp
- International Olive Council certification
- Check out this olive oils website
- California, Chile, and Australian olive oils are usually the real things.
Do the taste and smell test.
Taste the olive oil. It should not taste or smell moldy. It should not have a fermented taste to it. It should taste fruity in the front of your mouth and peppery in the back of your mouth or throat.
How do I store my olive oil?
Even the best olive oils can go rancid. An excellent olive oil should last two years in a can at room temperature. If stored in a bottle, the bottle should be kept in the dark. Try putting the olive oil in a small dark bottle and keeping the remaining oil in the refrigerator. Real olive oil should freeze in the refrigerator like soft butter left out, but this is not a reliable test. Treat olive oil like any other omega 3 oil. Keep the excess in the refrigerator.
Do not cook with olive oil. Cooking even on medium heat will turn the oil rancid and rancid oils can cause cancer. Instead cook with ghee, coconut oil, beef and pork lard.
Real olive oil brands
- Bariani Olive Oil
- California Olive Ranch
- Cobram Estate
- Corto Olive
- Ellora Extra Virgin Olive
- Kasandrinos Organic Extra Virgin Greek Olive Oil
- Kirkland Organic
- Lucero (Ascolano)
- McEvoy Ranch
- McEvoy Ranch Organic
- Nuvó Olive oil
- O-Live & Company
- Omaggio
- Partanna Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Trader Joe’s California Estate
There is a very good reason that the rate of cancer is less in the countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea than in countries further north – their reliance on Olive Oil as a main staple of their diet.
Denmark, France (Metropolitan), Belgium, Norway and the Netherlands all have cancer rates higher than 300 per 100,000 population.
On the other hand Mediterranean countries Italy (278.6), Spain (249), Malta (242), Croatia (266) all other countries including the south of France that borders the Mediterranean coast have lower cancer incidence rates. The common factor for all of these countries is the Mediterranean diet, which relies heavily on Extra Virgin olive Oil. Also, it may be that these people have higher levels of vitamin D.
In our medical world where I see little common sense, it makes sense to have olive oil as part of a cancer prevention diet or even when reversing cancer. A diet that uses optimum amounts of Extra Virgin Olive Oil makes good sense.
No part of this blog may be reproduced in any form without written permission. The content on this blog was written by Jake Ames, MD, HMD and is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment by your primary physician.
