Olive oil
What are the health benefits of using of olive oil? There is a long list of reasons to use it – it can lower blood sugar levels, keep tissues fluid, it helps to keep heart health and reduce cancer risks.
Thanks to its composition, the olive-oil is very resistant to heat. So, it can reach 210oC without being decomposed, unlike other vegetable oils or butters that cannot stand high temperatures. Knowing the frying temperature to be 180oC, we gather from the table below showing decomposition temperatures for different fatty stuffs, that olive-oil is preferable in frying.
The olive-oil gives us just as many calories as all vegetable oils give, but not more than that, as is perhaps an wrong view. Thus, 1 gram of olive-oil gives 9 calories, even wholesome ones.
The olive-oil contains substantial amounts of vitamin E which protects fatty acids from oxidation. It is essential to all ages, especially to pregnant women and those in the nursing period.
Provided the olive-oil is stored cool, in opaque containers that do not let light in, does not get rancid, contrary to other vegetable oils, but only after a very, very long time.
The Western diet typically consists of high levels of saturated fat from animal products and has been associated with an increased risk of bladder cancer. Whilst olive oil, the predominant fat in the Mediterranean diet, has been associated with many health benefits its role in bladder cancer aetiology is still unknown. Therefore, we investigated the effect of intake of animal products, olive oil and other major dietary fats on bladder cancer risk.
Methods: Dietary data were collected from 200 cases and 386 controls participating in a Belgian case-control study on bladder cancer. Adjustment was made for age, sex, smoking characteristics, occupational exposures and calorie intake.
Results: There was a statistically significant inverse association between olive oil intake and bladder cancer consistent with a linear dose-response relationship: middle versus the lowest tertile (OR: 0.62; 95% CI: 0.39-0.99) and the highest versus the lowest tertile (OR: 0.47; 95% CI: 0.28-0.78; p-trend=0.002). We also observed borderline statistically significant increased odds of bladder cancer for the highest versus the lowest intake of cheese (OR: 1.53; 95% CI: 0.95-2.46; p-trend=0.08).
Conclusion: We observed evidence for a protective effect by olive oil and a possible increased risk of bladder cancer associated with a high intake of cheese. Our results require further investigation and confirmation by other studies.
Brinkman MT, Buntinx F, Kellen E, Van Dongen MC, Dagnelie PC, Muls E, Zeegers MP. Consumption of animal products, olive oil and dietary fat and results from the Belgian case-control study on bladder cancer risk. Eur J Cancer. 2010 Oct 12.
