Olive Oil Health Benefits and How to Determine Real Olive Oil
Olive Oil Health Benefits and How to Determine Real Olive Oil
Jake Ames, MD, HMD
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, and 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. Below is a list of the health benefits of
olive oil.
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.
Cancer
I have been successfully treating cancer
patients using my theory that cancer is a nutritional inadequacy disease. I 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. My
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.
I 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, my cancer
patients 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.
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.
Dry Skin
I use
EVOO for all of our patients with dry skin and eczema. I 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. I do my best to have my
patients drink an optimal amount of pure water (distilled water) daily. Many patients are suffering from chronic
dehydration.
Alzheimer’s Disease
I have many mild to moderate Alzheimer’s
patient’s successfully restore their memories using my nutritional and
detoxification protocols. My 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. I 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.
Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular disease
I 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.
1: The oil must be in a dark glass bottle or a tin
to prevent oxidation.
2: The oil must not be treated chemically in any
way.
3: Do not buy light or blended olive oil.
4: Look for a pressing date.
5: Look at the cost. A cheap oil may be tainted with other oils.
6: A seal from the International Olive Oil Council
(IOC)
7: A seal from the California Olive Oil Council
(COOC, Certified Extra Virgin)
8: Seals from the Extra Virgin Alliance (EVA) and
UNAPROL
9 :
Seal from the Italian Olive Growers Association
10: The
North American Olive Oil Association (NAOOA) NAOOA Certified Oil stamp
11: International
Olive Council certification
13:
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.
Storing 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.
© 2017
Jake Ames, MD, HMD All Rights Reserved