Olive oil: recommendations for selection and application

Olive, or, as it is also called, “olive” vegetable oil, is a product derived from European olive varieties. Traditionally, this oil is considered a national product in the Mediterranean countries - Spain, Greece and Italy. People have learned how to get olive oil in these territories since ancient times. The product was universally consumed as well as used in ceremonial ceremonies in Judean and Christian churches. Oil obtained from the fruit of the olive tree is valued for its rich fatty acid composition.

The popularity of olive oil is growing steadily from year to year all over the world, and therefore the volume of its production is increasing. Almost half of the world volume of olive oil is produced in Spain. The second place for the release of this product belongs to Italy, and Greece is in third place. In addition to these European countries, olive oil is produced from Syria, Morocco and Tunisia, as well as in Portugal, the USA, Turkey and France.

Olive trees are considered among the most ancient centenarians, their average life expectancy is from 500 to 1500 years or more. The yield of this fruit tree is quite high, but it is impossible to eat raw olives because of their bitter taste. In order to remove the bitterness, olives must be soaked in a specially prepared neutralizing solution for a month. Such a specific bitterness is explained by the fact that olives contain oleuropein, a plant polyphenol, which, when consumed, reduces cholesterol in human blood, lowers high arterial blood pressure, and is also considered to be a tool that prolongs a person’s life expectancy.

In order to produce oil, fruits of various degrees of ripeness — green, purple and black, are used as raw materials. The most pronounced taste of the oil is when it uses immature green olives. When using ripe fruits, the taste of the finished product is softer, and by the volume of oil from such olives it turns out to be pressed much more.

In ancient times, people who regularly use olive oil for food, noticed that the benefits to the body from the use of this product is very great. In order to maintain health, you can drink olive oil for medicinal purposes. This valuable product is rich in fatty acids and vitamin E, which throughout life is necessary for everyone for normal life.

Often, the oil is also used to cleanse the body - it is taken at a time when it is necessary to clean the liver or to cleanse and improve the bowels and at the same time prevent constipation.

Oil obtained from olive is very useful for those who are prone to the formation of tumor processes or have recently undergone surgical or radiation therapy. Rich in natural antioxidant components, the oil protects cells from malignant transformation, improves regeneration processes, stimulates blood supply to organs and tissues, and also improves the quantitative and qualitative indicators of the blood formula.

The regenerative function of the oil contributes to the healing of the mucous membrane of the stomach and intestinal tract during gastritis or peptic ulcer. While taking an oily product from olives, spasms and colic in the intestine are reduced, inflammatory processes subside, constipation and stagnation of slags in the body are eliminated. Olive oil improves the flow of bile and prevents the formation of stones in the gall bladder, stimulates the kidneys and liver.

Regular consumption of this product in food helps to improve the mental and emotional state of a person, against its background resistance to stress and stressful situations increases, the process of falling asleep is facilitated and the sleep phase is prolonged. All this is due to the fact that olives contain vitamins of group B, which are so necessary for all of us to maintain normal functioning of the central and peripheral nervous system.

Under the influence of medicinal components, the human brain functions more actively - memory processes are accelerated, attention becomes concentrated, visual and auditory perception improves. The product helps to preserve the active brain activity of a person to a very old age without loss of intelligence, and in addition, is a prophylactic agent for the development of Alzheimer's disease. That is why the inhabitants of the Mediterranean loved and revered the olive tree.

The positive effect of olive oil on the male body:

• The product is taken to increase potency, as well as to stimulate the male reproductive system.
• Improves spermograms in terms of increasing the number of viable male germ cells, their physiological structure and mobility.
• Accelerates the process of purification of liver cells after alcohol intoxication, promotes the accelerated elimination of ethyl alcohol from the body and improves the general condition in the process of exiting hangover.
• It cleans the bloodstream from cholesterol deposits, dilutes the blood and prevents the formation of blood clots. This property of olive oil is the prevention of heart disease and blood vessels, which most men are inclined to after 45 years.
• The product reduces the effects of tobacco smoking on the body. Against the background of oil intake, the purification of bronchopulmonary tissue from sputum stagnation is stimulated, the breathing process is improved.

The beneficial effects of olive oil on the female body:

• Oil is a prophylactic agent of oncological diseases of the breast and skin. This is especially true for those women who live in southern latitudes.
• It improves hormones, stimulates libido, the female reproductive system, and also increases the chances of conceiving healthy offspring.
• It helps to restore the level of red blood cells, especially after heavy periods. Against the background of olive oil intake in women, hemoglobin increases and the general condition is normalized, and in addition, dizziness disappears.
• During menopause, oil from olive reduces the manifestation of climacteric changes occurring in a woman's body - the frequency of hot flashes decreases, irritability disappears, and skin and hair condition improves.
• The oil used for cosmetic purposes helps to combat skin pigmentation, smoothes small facial wrinkles, softens the skin with excessive dryness and a tendency to flaking, and also promotes the healing of small skin defects.
• During pregnancy, the product is a preventive measure against constipation and gastritis, improves the digestibility of food.
• The possibility of occurrence of placental abruption in the process of carrying a child decreases, the risk of premature labor or spontaneous miscarriage decreases.
• The product has a beneficial effect not only on the mother's body, but also supports the development of the baby - the fetus receives the necessary set of fatty acids and vitamins that are involved in the formation of the central nervous system, including the brain.

The benefits of eating olive oil are obvious. This product can be used for a long time and thus maintain your body in excellent condition. In the retail network, various grades of olive oil are available throughout the year, but when choosing them, you need to know some features.

In the process of preparing the oil, the fruits of the olive tree are placed under a press, then the oil extract is separated from the resulting mass while it is being stirred. In modern industries for such purposes use industrial presses and centrifugal devices. After collecting the oil, the cake remains, from which a certain amount of oil substance can also be extracted by using chemical reagents, however, the quality of such a product is considered to be rather low.

Olive oil of the first cold-pressed, which is not processed and not filtered by anything, is considered to be the best - this is an unrefined type of product. To get rid of the sediment, the olive product is refined. For refining use various types of adsorbing substances or use products containing alkaline components. In the process of refining the product does not change its properties on the content of valuable ingredients, but loses its unique bright taste and aroma.

Refined and unrefined oils are equally popular products and each type of them finds its application in human life. The differences between the use of these types of product lies in certain intricacies.

Refined oil:

• does not have healing properties for the human body, since valuable biologically active components are lost in the process of refining;
• used in cooking for frying, stewing, deep-frying and adding to various dishes;
• has a long shelf life under the necessary conditions for this;
• the cost of the product is lower compared to unrefined varieties;
• looks bright and transparent, without impurities, bright specific taste and aroma.

Unrefined oil:

• contains in its composition vitamins and trace elements, as well as saturated with fatty acids, which is why it has a therapeutic and prophylactic effect on the human body;
• It is not used for frying, as under the action of high temperatures, coagulation processes occur, which form substances harmful to human health, fumes, foam and smoke, as well as components that are classified as carcinogens;
• has a pronounced taste and aromatic properties inherent only in this product;
• has a short shelf life and is demanding of storage conditions, quickly loses its properties under the influence of ultraviolet rays, oxygen and high temperatures;
• has a yellowish-green color and contains sediment in the form of a suspension of microparticles of raw materials.

Connoisseurs are advised to choose the oil, guided by the specific purpose of the application. If you are faced with the task of strengthening your health and solving with this product any problems related to the well-being or work of one or another body system, then you should definitely give preference to oils of unrefined first cold pressed grades.

For frying, cold salad dressings, deep-fried and other dishes that are cooked, suitable refined second-pressed oil. According to manufacturers, such a product can withstand up to five cycles of heating and cooling the oil in the process of cooking without deteriorating its properties and the appearance of carcinogenic substances.

The famous alchemist doctor Paracelsus at one time suggested that everything is poison and nothing is poisonous, the only question is the dose. Olive oil is able to maintain and heal the human body, but with excessive use or in the presence of certain diseases it can cause harm. The reason for this is a rather high concentration of active biological substances in the product, which should be handled carefully and without excesses.

Observing a reasonable measure of use, the risk of side effects when using this product is minimal, but there are some limitations in which you should refrain from using oil from olive fruits:

• Patients suffering from inflammation of the gallbladder and the formation of stones in it. Olive oil contributes to the outflow of bile, therefore, the bile ducts can be blocked by stones that have come into motion, which will exacerbate the disease and cause pain.
• The product is very high in calories - 900 kilocalories per 100 grams of unrefined oil, so its daily dose should not exceed 20 grams. People suffering from overweight, this dosage is reduced by half or completely abandon the use of the product.

• In intestinal diseases or infectious diseases associated with abnormal stool, manifested in the form of diarrhea, one should refrain from oil intake until recovery, as the situation against the background of the product intake can significantly worsen.
• If the body is prone to heavy bleeding, the amount of oil should be limited and apply it strictly according to the doctor's prescription.
• With caution and in small doses, you can use the oil for people with diabetes, as a result of which there is a tendency to obesity, as well as disrupted secretory function of the pancreas.
• The product is undesirable in liver diseases associated with fatty degeneration of the liver tissue, in which a high concentration of fatty acids contained in the oil, will contribute to the deterioration of the condition.

Despite the positive reviews about the benefits to the body of the oil from the fruit of the olive, its use in large quantities will bring more harm than good.

For a person who is unsophisticated in a variety of varieties of olive oil, it is difficult to navigate when choosing a variety of brands and varieties of this product. There are general principles that experts in this field advise to follow when making a purchase.

The first thing to do is a visual inspection of the oil. Often, already at this stage you can understand a lot about the quality of the product in front of you. A good product has a pleasant rich golden hue. The presence of greenish notes is allowed, but there should be no gray tones or bright straw-yellow shades. The color change indicates that the product has expired or you have a mixture of vegetable oils, which means that the product has a low quality.

If there is such an opportunity, then before buying, be sure to taste the product. In a good product it will be fragrant and rich, sweetish, salty and sourish notes are allowed, but in very light and low concentration. If you catch bitterness, a taste of vinegar or metal, it is best to refuse to buy.

Pay attention to how the product is packed - bona fide manufacturers pack their goods in containers that do not let the UV rays of the sun through. Most often it is a bottle of dark-colored glass with a tight-fitting lid that has opening control.

In retail outlets you can find butter from the fruits of the olive of three kinds - natural, purified and prepared from the cake. The most beneficial for health is natural oil, which has the appropriate labeling. As a rule, the product of the top grade is prepared from the best and most high-quality raw materials by cold pressing. This means that during the cooking process, heat treatment was not used and all the valuable natural ingredients remained completely unchanged.

A very important point is reading the label on the container with oil.Try to find on it an abbreviation of Latin letters DOP, which will mean that the product is not only made from the best varieties of olive of excellent quality, but also packed in the same place where it was produced. This oil is considered the highest quality, because its manufacturers regularly undergo various state checks.

The highest quality oils are produced in those countries where olive trees grow - in Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Syria, and Israel. You can determine the country of manufacture through the barcode on the label, and if the country is in the European Union, then this fact will be indicated on the label using a special sign.

Another of the most important indicators of high-quality oil is the percentage of oleic acids in it. In a quality product, this indicator does not exceed 1%.

Always pay attention to the shelf life of the product you want to purchase. Olive oil is stored no more than 18 months from the date of production. Usually the dates are indicated on the package, you only need to find and read them. If the stock of the shelf life remains small, and you obviously do not have time to use the entire volume of oil before the end of this period, it is best to discard the purchase, even if a discount is offered for the product.

Good natural olive oil is not cheap, but if you are constrained by the means, you can find an oil product on the shelves of the store, consisting of a mixture of refined oil and oil produced by cold pressing, that is, natural. This product can be used not only in cooking, but also in cosmetology. However, the useful components in this product will be extremely low.

The effect of the use of natural oil from olive will not take long to wait if you drink it correctly. Adults and children from the age of 14 are advised to use this product in the morning on an empty stomach, one tablespoon inside.

30-40 minutes before dinner on an empty stomach drink a second batch of oil.

In the case when you have a problem with bleeding and inflammation of the gums, periodontists advise you to massage the gums with olive oil with a soft toothbrush or add a teaspoon of this product to a glass of mouthwash.

With colds and catarrhal phenomena, oil is taken with garlic. To do this, in the usual morning and evening portions add gruel from one clove of garlic. With this tool, the overall condition is facilitated and the body is restored in a short time.

In order to cure viral papillomas, popularly called warts, olive oil mixed with celandine juice in a ratio of 1: 2 is applied to problem skin areas. Regular use of this tool gives quick and good results. In addition, the oil lubricates the skin during peeling, as well as it is used to protect against the effects of wind and cold. If you apply oil on your skin and put on cotton gloves, leaving the composition on your hands all night, in the morning your skin will look soft and supple.

Often, olive oil is applied as a nutrient to the hair and scalp, accompanying the procedure with a light massage. This ingredient is part of many cosmetic hair masks for home and industrial production. Oliva softens and nourishes the hair, promotes their growth, helps get rid of split ends, strengthens hair follicles.

Cosmetologists recommend regularly wipe mature skin with a cotton pad dipped in olive oil. This product makes it easy to remove even the most resistant makeup, and nourishes and moisturizes the skin.Oil can be added to the water while taking a relaxing bath, thanks to which the skin is toned and does not overdry. Massage with this tool helps to remove cellulite and stretch marks, as well as promotes rapid healing of microcracks and sunburn.

Olive oil is used for more than one century in traditional medicine. It is used as an independent tool and is a component of medicinal compositions and drugs. Here are a few recipes that are simple to perform, but at the same time have proven to be quite effective.

• Composition for the overall strengthening of the body. Prepare it by taking bee honey and olive oil in equal parts. The ingredients are thoroughly mixed with each other and lemon juice or finely chopped lemon. The resulting mixture should be melted in containers in a water bath. At one time used one tablespoon of the mixture. The composition is taken twice a day - in the morning and at night.

• Composition for the treatment and purification of the liver. Pumpkin seeds (approximately one glass) must be cleaned and chopped. Olive oil is heated to a temperature not higher than 55 degrees, then the crushed seeds are poured with oil. The composition is required to put in a warm place, close and let it brew. After a few hours, the mixture must be filtered and put away in a cool dark place.

• For the treatment of acute and chronic cystitis take one glass of warm boiled water, add one teaspoon of olive oil and freshly squeezed garlic juice. The composition should be drunk in the form of heat. Accept it in the morning and in the evening.

• Rubbing with a cold. For the preparation of this tool you need to take two tablespoons of olive oil and add to them one tablespoon of purified turpentine. The resulting mixture should be rubbed back and chest, trying to rub the composition dry, then wrap the patient with a blanket and let it sweat. With the same mixture, rub the feet well, then woolen socks are put on the feet. This tool is not suitable for small children because of the sharp smell of turpentine.

• Nose drops in the treatment of colds. 50 ml of oil should be heated and added to it on a pinch of dried mint, wormwood, chamomile, St. John's wort, eucalyptus. Give the composition to infuse in the heat, add a few drops of oil of mint and anise. The composition is filtered and instilled from the pipette by 2-3 drops in each nasal passage three times a day. This product is not suitable for people who are allergic to herbal ingredients.

When preparing medicinal compositions, it is necessary to remember that olive oil is oxidized under the influence of oxygen, so try to make small amounts of money so that they can be consumed quickly and, if necessary, prepare a fresh portion.

Studying reviews of dietitians, quite often you can find evidence that the fatty acids that make up olive oil, significantly speed up the metabolism and improve appetite. This product has a high calorie content and is able to quickly saturate the body during mental and physical exertion. In connection with this circumstance, the optimal daily dose of oil should not exceed two tablespoons per day for a person leading an active lifestyle.

In dietetics, this product is used along with salads and cold dishes. Experts in the field of cooking recommend adding olive fruit oil to the dough for baking, so that the pastry turns soft, fluffy and without lumps of sticky flour.In addition, when adding butter to marinades and sauces, the taste of the dishes is brighter and more saturated.

All fans of this unique herbal product should be aware that it is impossible to eat expired oil. The fact is that after the expiry of its shelf life, the useful ingredients of the oil are lost, and the product itself can cause an excessive load on the liver cells, which will be forced to deactivate the modified components of fatty acids. The liver of a sick person is unlikely to withstand such a load, and the result will be indigestion and a general deterioration of well-being.

In addition, it is necessary to remember that in order to avoid health problems, it is necessary to observe the daily dosage and not to use more than two tablespoons of the product per day.

On the benefits and dangers of olive oil, see below.