Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 5 Years Of Supporting Health And Wellbeing

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil And The Mediterranean Diet

A healthy diet helps avoid the chronic diseases that put us at higher risk and nutrients such as the antioxidants in fruits, vegetables, and other foods can help boost our immune system. A good place to find the nutrients we need is the Mediterranean diet which is continually rated as the best diet for health and wellbeing. Key ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine include extra virgin olive oil, fresh fruits and vegetables, protein-rich legumes, fish, and whole grains with moderate amounts of wine and red meat.”

Dr. Simon Poole, a medical doctor and writer who has worked on extra virgin olive oil and the Mediterranean diet with various international organizations, said “people have a much higher risk of becoming severely ill if they have obesity, diabetes, or cardiovascular disease. But the Mediterranean diet and extra virgin olive oil help prevent these diseases in the first place. And the effects of dietary changes can be quite quick. It takes only weeks for changes to make a difference. For example, a prediabetic state can be reversed by diet in a matter of weeks, and inflammatory markers in the blood can come down with a single dose of the olive oil and tomato sauce known as sofrito in Spain.”

What The European Food Safety Authority Says About The Health Benefits Of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is probably the most extensively researched foodstuff on the planet and the health benefits of consuming extra virgin olive oil, whether taken on its own or including extra virgin olive oil in cooking, are evidence based. Thanks to the recent spotlight on the Mediterranean Diet, extensive research has been done on the phytonutrient composition of olive oil.

The European Food Safety Authority has for some time already approved health claims for extra virgin olive oils with polyphenol content of more than 250mg / kg. Polyphenols are a potent antioxidant, one that protects against damaging molecules in your body called free radicals. Free radicals can ricochet around inside your body and harm good cells. Antioxidants, such as the polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil, work to neutralize free radicals and so protect the body at a cellular level. Morocco Gold contains polyphenols well above the level quoted by the Food Safety Authority.

The FDA (Food & Drug Administration) And Extra Virgin Olive Oil

A key moment within the last 5 years was a recognition by the FDA of the health benefits of extra virgin olive oil. Unlike the EFSA, the FDA focused their recommendations not on polyphenol levels but on the right kind of fat, in particular the mono-unsaturated fat – oleic acid. As far back a 2010, researches Sergio Lopez and Francisco J.G. Muriana reported:

Evidence from epidemiological studies suggests that a higher proportion of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA), notably oleic acid, in the diet is linked with a reduction in the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). To achieve this benefit, olive oil as a major source of oleic acid is to replace a similar amount of saturated fat and not increase the total number of daily calories.

The biochemical bases of the ameliorative effect of oleic acid are thought to be modification of plasma lipid and lipoprotein concentrations, inhibition of coagulation, improvement of glucose homeostasis, and attenuation of inflammation and oxidative status in fasting conditions.

Not All Fats Are The Same.

Dietary fats are an essential part of a healthy diet according to the American Heart Association. The right fats provide energy, improve cell growth and absorption of nutrients, and create important hormones. Not only does extra virgin olive oil like Morocco Gold consist mainly of healthy monounsaturated fats, it is also the only fat that contains high levels of polyphenols, the antioxidants associated with a range of health benefits. This makes extra virgin olive oil without question the healthiest of all fats and an essential part of a healthy diet.

To remain healthy, we need moderate amounts of the right type of fats eaten as part of a good, balanced healthy diet. However, a high fat intake and in particular, a high intake of saturated fats is associated with raised blood cholesterol and coronary heart disease.

Which Fats Contribute To A Healthy Diet

Fats are made up of fatty acids and glycerol. A fatty acid consists of a chain of carbon atoms, where each carbon atom in the chain is attached to hydrogen atoms. The number of hydrogen atoms per carbon atom determines whether the fatty acid is saturated or unsaturated and therefore will contribute towards a healthy diet.

Saturated fats
If a fatty acid has all of the hydrogen atoms it can hold (2 per carbon atom in the chain) and all of the carbon atoms in the chain are linked by single bonds, it is described as saturated.

Saturated fats are usually solid or semi-solid at room temperature and are strongly associated with raised blood cholesterol which is why nutritionists recommend eating them as little as possible. Lard, butter, hard cheeses, whole milk, animal fats and palm and coconut oils – plus products containing them – all contain high levels of saturated fat that do not support a healthy diet.

Monounsaturated Fats Support A Healthy Diet
If a pair of carbon atoms in the fatty acid chain is linked by a double bond instead of a single bond, the fatty acid is described as monounsaturated. Fats rich in monounsaturates tend to be liquid at room temperature. Olive oil is one of the richest sources of monounsaturated fatty acids and therefore supports a healthy diet.

Monounsaturated fats—omega-6s in the case of olive oil—are important because they help boost heart health. This is important for helping prevent health issues such as cardiovascular disease or stroke.

Polyunsaturated fats
These contain more than one double bond and are liquid at room temperature. The main sources are vegetable oils, such as sunflower oil, corn oil and rapeseed, but not tropical oils such as coconut, palm and palm kernel oils.

Trans fats
Trans fats are created when a hydrogenation process is applied to solidify oil for use in margarines or to improve a product’s shelf life. This processing causes trans fats to act like saturated fats.

The following illustrates the differing fat contents of a range of products.

The FDA Announcement Regarding Extra Virgin Olive Oil

The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it will allow all olive oil bottles to carry a new “qualified health claim” on their labels.

Olive oil manufacturers may now choose to advertise their product as a heart-healthy alternative to animal-based fats for cooking and food preparation.

“Supportive but not conclusive scientific evidence suggests that daily consumption of about 1.5 tablespoons of oils containing high levels of oleic acid, may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease,” Scott Gottlieb, the head of the agency, wrote.

“The claim will also need to make it clear that to achieve this benefit, these oils should replace fats and oils higher in saturated fat and not increase the total number of calories you eat in a day,” he added.

Joseph R Profaci, the executive director of the North American Olive Oil Association, said that in spite of olive oil already having its own qualified health claim, he is encouraged by the proactive steps taken by the current administration to adopt these types of regulations.

“Olive oil has had its own qualified health claim for years, however very few companies have used it because it requires a pretty extensive disclaimer, and label space is at a premium,” he said.

“What I do find encouraging about the announcement is that it indicates a willingness on the part of the current administration at the FDA to adopt changes and regulations that help inform consumers to make choices about their health,” Profaci added. “We are hoping that will translate into a willingness to adopt a standard of identity for olive oils in the near future.”

The FDA reviewed seven small studies while making its determination, of which six indicated participants who replaced animal fats with high-oleic oils had a reduced risk for coronary heart disease.

Six of the studies found that those who were randomly assigned to consume diets containing oils with high levels of oleic acid as a replacement to fats and oils higher in saturated fat experienced a modest lowering in their total cholesterol and heart-damaging low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels compared to those who ate a more Western-style diet that was higher in saturated fat.

The government is allowing health labels such as these with the hope that they will encourage people to eat more nutritious and healthy foods and that, in turn, will help to drive down rates of chronic illnesses associated with poor diets, including Type 2 diabetes, obesity and even cancer.

Statement from FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D., on a new qualified health claim for consuming oils with high levels of oleic acid to reduce coronary heart disease risk

“As Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, I remain committed to finding new ways to reduce the burden of chronic disease through improved nutrition. Using the FDA’s labeling tools to foster innovation toward healthier foods that consumers want is one of the primary goals of the FDA’s Nutrition Innovation Strategy that I first announced in March.

One tool the FDA has to help bring us closer to this important goal is the use of “health claims” on food package labels. These claims serve as efficient signals that consumers can look for on a product’s packaging to determine what benefits a food or beverage might have. By allowing such claims on food product labels, we at the FDA also hope to encourage the food industry to reformulate products”.

Recognizing the importance of science-based food decisions, there are two kinds of health claims on food product packages – authorized health claims and qualified health claims.

An authorized health claim meets the more rigorous standard of “significant scientific agreement,” meaning that the claim is supported by the totality of publicly available scientific evidence for a substance/disease relationship. A qualified health claim means it is supported by more limited scientific evidence that doesn’t meet the rigorous standard. To ensure qualified claims aren’t misleading, they must be accompanied by a disclaimer to communicate to consumers the level of scientific evidence supporting the claim.

Today, the FDA responded to a petition for a new qualified health claim for edible oils containing high levels of oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that’s been shown to have cardiovascular benefits when it replaces heart-damaging saturated fat.

The History Of Food As Medicine

Although human nutrition and the effects of food constituents on our health is a relatively new science based on biochemistry, the effects of what we eat have been studied for millenia.

Many ancient cultures, especially Greek, Asian and pre-Christian considered many foods as remedies for physical conditions or the treatment of diseases. Similarly they thought that some foods had beneficial effects on health, while others believed some foods were capable of causing illness.

So proper nutrition has been considered the basis of good health for millenia. Hippocrates (460-377 BC), father of modern medicine in the western world, claimed that “good health implies an awareness of the powers of natural or processed foods”. The Salernitan School (a Medieval medical school, the first and most important of its kind. Situated in the south Italian city of Salerno, it was founded in the 9th century and rose to prominence in the 10th century, becoming the most important source of medical knowledge in Western Europe at the time) maintained that “the doctor must observe what food consists of, how much, and when it must be eaten”, while Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) believed that “a man’s life depends on what he eats”.

Now however, understanding molecular nutrition, the interaction between nutrients and DNA at the cellular level, and obtaining specific biomarkers is now helping to formulate diets in which what we eat is not only considered a food but can also be considered as a medicine. These dual function foods are now referred to as “neutraceutic” or “functional” foods.

What Are Functional Foods?

Functional foods are ingredients that offer health benefits that extend beyond their nutritional value. Some types contain supplements or other additional ingredients designed to improve health. The concept originated in Japan in the 1980s when government agencies started approving foods with proven benefits in an effort to better the health of the general population. Some examples include foods fortified with vitamins, minerals, probiotics, or fiber.

Nutrient-rich ingredients like fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and grains are also often considered functional foods. Similarly, fruits and vegetables contain antioxidants which are beneficial compounds that help protect against disease.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil: A Classic Functional Food

An example of a “nutraceutic” or “functional” food right from infancy, extra virgin olive oil is one of the best medicaments for delaying ageing and is also a good source of phytochemicals including polyphenolic compounds that contribute to its overall therapeutic characteristics.

An integral ingredient of the Mediterranean diet, extra-virgin olive oil has always been considered a middle road between food and medicine and there is growing evidence that its health benefits include reduction of coronary heart disease risk factor, prevention of several types of cancer, and the modification of immune and inflammatory responses.

The origins of the olive tree date back to the Eneolithical era, or Copper Age, in the sixth millennium BC. Having first appeared in Italy during the Bronze Age, the fruit and oil of the olive tree were widely used in nutrition, medicine, art, literature, and daily life during the Etruscan and Roman civilisations, and throughout the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Many of the characteristic components of the traditional Mediterranean diet are known to have positive effects on health, capacity and well-being, and can be used to design functional foods. Vegetables, fruits and nuts are all rich in phenols, flavonoids, isoflavonoids, phytosterols and phytic acid–essential bioactive compounds providing health benefits.

Accumulating evidence suggests that extra virgin olive oil, an integral component of the Mediterranean diet, has many health benefits, including the reduction of the risk of coronary heart disease, the prevention of several types of cancer and the modification of the immune and inflammatory responses.

In the context of the Mediterranean diet, the benefits associated with the consumption of several functional components may be intensified by certain forms of food preparation. In addition, the practice of more physical activity (once common among Mediterranean populations) and the following of other healthy lifestyle habits also has positive effects on health and wellbeing.