The case against Olive Oil

[andyswarbs]

Dr Klaper presents his view of why Olive Oil is simply not healthy.

youtube.com/watch?time_cont...

[Zest]

Hi Andy,

I am responding to your post about Olive oil, because I've watched the video, and I am not convinced by his claims, and personally, I believe the evidence in most research journals indicate that there are health benefits to including some olive oil in the diet.

I would like to put some links to what I believe are helpful and evidence-based sources to back up my points:

The first link is to an article from the Journal of Internal Medicine (2012) by W.C. Willett, entitled:

"Dietary Fats & Coronary Heart Disease"

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi...

The second link is to a Healthline Article entitled:

"11 Proven Benefits of Olive Oil"

healthline.com/nutrition/11...

The third link is to an article about Fat by Anita Bean (Health Nutritionist), in which she writes some interesting points:

"Diet Debate: Is Saturated Fat Good or Bad for You?"

anitabean.co.uk/diet-debate...

These articles certainly suggest to me that Olive oil is healthy, and I shall certainly be continuing to use it.

Zest

[andyswarbs in reply to Zest]

As a follow up, I looked at nutritionfacts take on this nutritionfacts.org/video/ol...

From his transcript, "Studies that have suggested endothelial benefits after olive oil consumption have measured something different—ischemia-induced, as opposed to flow-mediated, dilation—and there’s just not good evidence that that’s actually an index of endothelial function, which is what predicts heart disease. Hundreds of studies have shown that the test can give a false negative result."

Please ensure research is measuring flow-mediated dilation.

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I know people like hearing that olive oil is good for you. It is an easy sell, with media coverage that just goes on and on.

[Zest in reply to andyswarbs]

Hi Andy,

Thanks for that information. I thought the video from Nutrition Facts was quite well presented and interesting. I will certainly be trying to keep a look out for further studies on the subject.

Speaking personally, I have been considering that I currently eat too much fat, in terms of my macronutrient balance, and I am trying to reduce that - for example I think I tend to 'liberally drizzle' the olive oil onto my roasted veggies and my salads, and I think I'll rely on using less oil and less fat generally - and enjoying more natural whole foods - e.g. avocadoes, oily fish, nuts, whole olives (for example enjoying some whole olives in a caponata style meal), and my hubby has recently been asking me if we can steam more of our veggies - especially broccoli - so I'm going to be cutting down on my fat intake, as part of my personal aims to tweak my diet, and I strive to eat as healthily as I can for myself and my hubby.

I love the Mediterranean diet - in terms of its wholegrains, fruits, veggies, nuts etc, and I feel that is a diet that is personally incredibly nutritious and delicious.

Anyway, I hope you have a nice weekend.

Zest

[JGBH]

I think the long life many people who live in mediterranean countries have is good enough evidence for me and many people that olive oil is good. Like anything else, moderation is required...

Everyday there are "research" articles telling us that X or Z is not good for us... If we took notice of them all we would not eat anything at all! Some intelligence and common sense are required, like with anything else.

[andyswarbs in reply to JGBH]

What do you think of when you think of someone from Greece? I think many of them are fat. You look at TODAYs Mediterranean countries and tell me they their health outcomes are better than the UK, Germany or wherever. Go on, I challenge you.

And you look at the mediterranean diet from country to country and you will see a great variety. So which one exactly do you have in mind?

The original source work for touting the Med Diet was based (if my memory is correct) on rural people in Cyprus. These people lived on the land. Very hard daily labour. They would have physically needed extra calories of olive oil to survive. They might have been working 8-12 hours each day 7 days a week on the land.

academic.oup.com/eurpub/art... shows that Greece is losing its connection to what was historically thought of as a meddiet. Why is that? Why would a relatively healthy population become sicker as years rolled by. It cannot be genetics!

All I am saying is be very careful about what you think of as MedDiet. I will argue they were healthy because of the plant foods they ate daily ameliorating the negatives of any olive oil, the daily harsh physical lifestyle out in the sunshine.

[JGBH]

Well, have tried to reply to you twice this morning... but somehow when I pressed "send", it appeared to be blocked....so did not send. Do not have much time to start all over again, but briefly will say that on reading the research link you indicated it stated clearly in conclusion that the research on the Mediterranean diet started in the 50s to 60s when many people toiled hard on the land and it was ok then...but that the recent populations of Greek people do not strickly adhere to that diet anymore and this suggests a continuing transition from traditionally dietary patterns of the 50s to 60s towards a more Westernised/American diet with the invasion of "fast food culture". There, you have the proof!! Nothing wrong with having olive oil.... I always use the 1st cold pressed olive oil and intend on doing so.

The problem lies with parents buying huge packets of crisps, biscuits, pies, bought cakes, rubbishy burgers, too many sausages, calorie-rich pre-cooked meals, sugary sparkling drinks galore, sweets and chocolate as snacks... and many people not getting much physical activity... always sitting in front of computer, TV, in car... All these factors contribute to the situation we see nowadays. In the UK there are too many obese and morbidly obese people, even young children... following their parents's pattern because they don't have a choice, I suppose. In fact, many people throughout Europe are getting obese and there is an epidemic of diabetes and heart conditions! So sad.. but people need to become responsible for their health by eating sensibly. Long live good healthy olive oil!

Sad you saw this as a "challenge"... did not think this forum was a batlle field to prove one'spoint... After all we are all trying to help each other.

Best wishes.

[andyswarbs]

I can certainly agree that the overwhelming amount of food people consume is processed. So many things wrong with many if not all highly processed foods.

For example lots of omega-6 in them, which needs countering since the ideal ratio of o6 to o3 is around 4-1. So people who consume o6 need lots of o3 to bring up their ratio. Because of my low-oil lifestyle my ratio is fine.