There are many dif­fer­ent oils avail­able on the super­mar­ket shelf. One pop­u­lar option is Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil. The “Extra” indi­cates that it is the high­est qual­ity of any olive oil. EVOO (extra vir­gin olive oil) is also the high­est qual­ity of any oil avail­able today. This guar­an­tees that the prod­uct has less than 1% free oleic acid, and has supe­rior color, aroma, and most impor­tantly, taste.

Besides the fact that it is much supe­rior in taste to it’s other oil coun­ter­parts, the health ben­e­fits out­weigh those of any other. Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil has con­sid­er­ably more monoun­sat­u­rated fats than other oils. Higher monoun­sat­u­rated fat intake has been linked to reduc­ing the risk of coro­nary heart dis­ease by low­er­ing the LDL (bad) cho­les­terol in the body. In cer­tain stud­ies, olive oil has also shown an abil­ity to increase arte­r­ial elas­tic­ity, as well as bal­ance out Omega-6 and Omega-3 fats. There is also a con­sid­er­able amount of clin­i­cal data that proves anti-inflammatory and anti-hypertensive , as well as anti-thrombotic (pre­vents blood clot­ting) and anti-vasodilatory (non-dilation of blood ves­sels) effects. It is proven that in coun­tries where olive oil is used gen­er­ously, pri­mar­ily in the place of other fats, there is a much lower rate of dia­betes, ath­er­o­scle­ro­sis, heart dis­ease, colon can­cer and asthma. Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil also con­tains Vitamin-E, which pro­tects Vit­a­min A as well as essen­tial fatty acids from oxi­da­tion in the body’s cells, and also pre­vents the break­down of tis­sues in the body.

The method of extract­ing the oil also adds to the health ben­e­fits in that olive oil is essen­tially squeezed right out of the olive. Veg­etable oils are chem­i­cally extracted, adding impu­ri­ties, and remov­ing nutri­ents. Because of this, along with it’s antiox­i­dants, olive oil will keep much longer than veg­etable oils. Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil only con­tains 2 grams of sat­u­rated fat per table­spoon, com­pared to but­ter which con­tains 8 grams. Also, but­ter con­tains 33mgs of cho­les­terol, whereas olive oil con­tains none.

Doc­tors rec­om­mend at least 2 table­spoons of Extra Vir­gin Olive Oil per day in order to reap the full health ben­e­fit. Using EVOO in place of but­ter and other oils can dra­mat­i­cally decrease your risk of dis­ease and there­fore increase your health with lit­tle effort.

One of the best Olive Oil avail­able in Italy is prob­a­bly “Olio Cus­cinà” Made by the Farm “Maria Layla Fatta” near Palermo, in Sicily!