Drinking Olive Oil - Healthy or Not?

Some years ago, scientist compared the rate of heart attacks and coronary diseases in different countries and found out that those countries that followed a varied, rich in seafood, vegetables, fruits and olive oil, diet suffered less coronary problems than people that ate a lot of meat and used predominantly animal fats in cooking. Not astonishingly countries in the North of Europe, such as England and Scotland had far worse results than countries around the mediterranean sea. Hence the name ' Mediterranean Diet'. One thing to remember here is that olive oil only is a part of this healthy diet, an important one, but only a part. Now, I have lived in Spain myself for many years, but I have rarely seen people drinking any large amount of olive oil. Another thing to remember is that we eat all food either raw or heated. In the case of olive oil you could say that 'drinking olive oil' could also mean to eat it 'raw' i.e. unheated as compared with cooking with it = heating it. I have a good friend, he is from Andalusia, who has always the same for breakfast, a small bowl of olive oil in which mountain herbs have been infused and fresh bread to dip in it. He is not drinking it, but he is surely consuming a small glass of unheated olive oil each morning. And yes, he is extremely healthy ;-)

The habit of drinking olive oil has been reported from so different countries like France, Israel / Palestine and the Greek island of Crete amongst others. Whilst olive oil is healthier than other, animal-based oils and fats, it is still a fat with a staggering 9 calories / gram. Before you now decide to drink an additional glass of it each day, you should better add also some exercise to the plan, if not you will gain weight very fast. If gaining weight is your goal, then drinking olive oil is surely a healthy way to achieve this.

Other health benefits may include lower risk of coronary disease (as mentioned above) and even a lower risk of suffering from certain types of cancer, especially interesting are reports from Greece that state that women on the island of Crete (a major olive oil producer) are having a significantly lower risk of suffering from breast cancer during their lifetime. Olive oil is also reported to lower blood cholesterol without lowering the 'good' HDL cholesterol at the same time. Related to this findings are the claims that regular intake of olive oil can lower the blood pressure and helps to regulate blood sugar levels.

More 'fuzzy' are claims that declare olive oil to contain so-called antioxidants. Antioxidants are said to protect and repair cells from harm, but there is precious little scientific research available how and if that works. Below a few other things that olive oil can help with and / or even cure:

Constipation A teaspoon or two in the morning, before you eat or drink anything else helps to get things going in a natural manner.

Skin Olive oil is a great skin cleaner and excellent to lift make-up in a gentle manner from your face. It also helps to achieve a nice, even tan when used as an after sun treatment.

Vitamin Absorption Many vitamins, like E, D and K, are called 'fat soluble' vitamins, which means also that our body can only absorb them if a fat or oil component is present. Adding a teaspoon of olive oil to your freshly pressed carrot juice makes hence an awful lot of sense.

Gall Stones Some people claim that a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice helps to dissolve and to expel gall bladder stones. Might be, might not be. Better ask your GP or health care professional first.

Oil Pulling Last but not least, olive oil is also used in a natural detox method, called oil pulling. Hereby you swirl a small amount of oil around your mouth and through your teeth first thing in the morning without swallowing it and until the oil is thin, white and foamy. Then you spit it out and clean your mouth first with water and then you brush your teeth and tongue normally. That is said to help to clean your teeth thoroughly and to detox your whole body.

No article about olive oil would be complete without explaining a bit about the different quality levels of it. In short, the best olive oil would be organic and extra virgin. Extra virgin means it has be cold pressed, not suffered from heating nor have any chemicals been applied to increase the oil extraction. As for the taste, the only thing you can do is to try out a few varieties and see which one you like best. Perhaps they offer an olive oil tasting event where you life? That is a great way not only to find out which variety you like best but also to learn a lot about the green gold as it is also called.

I hope you have enjoyed this article about the health benefits of olive oil drinking! Feel free to leave me a comment and / or to thumb it up and / or to share it with your friends.