In the country in Europe im living in currently olive oil is regarded as a healthy thing . Are there any studies showing that olive oil would be healthy?
Food is, by definition, healthy. It’s when you have no food that you fall ill and die.
Olive oil is low in cholesterol, which many people think makes it healthy, for reasons that seem to defy logic. It may be healthier than some other oils, but it’s popularity might have more to do with it’s fabulous flavor. It has also been known to be healthier to purchase large quantities of olive oil from certain sellers when asked to do so.
Moved GD --> GQ.
Well, this isn’t just an UL, if that’s what you mean. Wikipedia cites this study as an example of the accumulated evidence of the health benefits of olive oil … ‘Healthy’ is a relative term, of course–olive oil, like any oil, is virtually pure fat, and most health authorities recommend limiting fat in your diet. The idea is to substitute healthier olive oil for other oils that you commonly consume which are higher in cholesterol and saturated fats. Adding more olive oil to your diet without making other changes is not likely to have positive effects.
All vegetable oils have zero cholesterol. Cholesterol only comes from animal products.
Drizzling some olive oil on your salad = healthy
Olive oil based mayonnaise slathered 1/4" thick on a 12oz hamburger = unhealthy
Context matters.
Olive oil has no saturated fats, which increase the risk of heart disease more than unsaturated fats do. It also has a mix of various healthy(er) polyunsaturated, omega-3 and other essential fats. The same is true of many other sorts of vegetable oils. Basically this makes it a healthier alternative to butter, shortening, and animal fats.
That doesn’t mean it’s a good idea to consume huge amounts of olive oil in addition to your regular diet. That’ll just help you gain weight – more is most assuredly not better. If you’re really worried about your health, you should replace the saturated fats in your diet with a smaller amount of unsaturated fats like olive oil. Moderation is key, as with all things.
Margarine was supposed to be a good alternative to butter, but it turns out it replaced saturated fats with artificial trans fats, which are even worse. Newer vegetable-oil based spreads mostly avoid this trap.
The American Heart Association has a lot more information on how different fats affect health (though with a rather… kitschy… sort of presentation).
A lot of the “evidence” behind olive oil being healthy is that people from Mediterranean cultures tend to eat higher amounts of fat than Americans would consider healthy, yet still have lower rates of heart disease and longer life spans. Olive oil is obviously one example of a significant difference - whereas Americans tend to get our extra fat from butter, they’re likely to get it from olive oil. But there are other differences too - less red meat, more fish, etc. and there are obviously cultural and genetic differences that might explain some or all of the difference.
This is the same logic that leads people to conclude green tea is good for you - if Asians live longer and have lower rates of heart disease, it must be the tea.
As SCSimmons points out, there is some good research that points to health benefits of olive oil so I wouldn’t say it’s all quackery and food-industry sales pitches. But, I’d say using it as a substitute for butter or other fats is a better idea than simply adding olive oil to your existing diet.
:smack: Doh! I was already ranting to myself about the cholesterol related health nonsense and not paying attention to the more obvious nonsense.
Nice coincidence. This thread was posted on a day that five bottles of olive oil from William Sonoma arrived at my house. Two Blue Cheese flavor, one Spanish chili, and two Parmesean. They are so good! The Pesto is nice too.