Traveling across Italy, from north to south, there’s one thing that defines many landscapes: olive groves. These centuries-old trees, often hundreds of years old, with their silvery foliage and gnarled trunks, are true natural monuments that have always been an essential part of Italy’s culinary culture.

The olive tree has extremely ancient origins, and every people, sooner or later, discovered and made use of its properties, particularly those of the olives themselves, from which what’s known as “Green Gold” is extracted. This thick, yellowish-green liquid is not only excellent in the kitchen but also a true elixir for health, thanks to its precious beneficial properties.

The beneficial substances in olive oil

Olive oil is essentially a monounsaturated fat, extracted from the drupes of the olive tree, part of the Oleaceae family: the olives, harvested between October and November, are cold-pressed, without any chemical processing whatsoever.

The result is a liquid rich in triglycerides, vitamins A, B, C, D, and E, minerals (iron, zinc, copper, selenium, sulfur, iodine, and potassium), antioxidant compounds including phytosterols, squalene, chlorophyll, and above all fatty acids. In particular, olive oil contains palmitic acid, linoleic acid, stearic acid, but above all as much as 62% oleic acid, the monounsaturated fatty acid most abundant in the human body.

It’s no surprise that the Mediterranean diet, built largely around the widespread consumption of olive oil, has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage by UNESCO, since it promotes wellbeing and boosts mood, even helping ward off depressive states.

The benefits of olive oil have been known since ancient times, so much so that Homer himself, in the Odyssey, tells of Ulysses receiving a vial of olive oil from the goddess Athena, gaining strength and beauty from it, while Pliny the Elder affirms the healing properties of oil in his treatise Naturalis Historia.

The benefits of olive oil thanks to unsaturated fatty acids

Olive oil is rich in plant-based fatty acids which, being unsaturated, help lower bad cholesterol, strengthen its resistance to oxidation, and increase good HDL cholesterol. This means that consuming olive oil helps prevent arterial blockages, stroke, high blood pressure, and arteriosclerosis.

The presence of polyunsaturated fatty acids such as Omega-3 and Omega-6 also makes olive oil a perfect food for weaning babies, precisely because the balance of these fats closely resembles that found in breast milk.

Olive oil is also essential in children’s diets during growth, contributing to physical development, bone structure formation, the development of the central nervous system, and the prevention of infections.

Thanks to its fatty acids, olive oil also helps the body absorb certain fat-soluble vitamins found in other foods, such as vegetables.

Rich in minerals, olive oil can be considered a true tonic, helping restore energy and wellbeing, especially during periods of physical and mental stress and seasonal changes.

Olive oil: a mine of antioxidants

Olive oil is extremely rich in polyphenols, the main compounds responsible for its bitter, slightly spicy flavor: it’s worth remembering that, in nature, olives are one of the very few fruits that contain their oily substance not in the seed but in the pulp itself. Polyphenols, among the most powerful antioxidants found in nature, act against degradation right from when the oil is still within the pulp, protecting its fats from water and enzymes that could otherwise undermine its effectiveness.

Thanks to its antioxidants, consuming olive oil helps prevent cellular aging and, as a result, helps not only prevent the decline of cognitive function (such as Alzheimer’s disease) but above all helps counter the onset of cancer, particularly breast and colon cancer. Among the antioxidants found in olive oil is squalene in particular, considered highly effective against skin cancer.

Thanks to its antioxidants, olive oil also exerts an anti-inflammatory effect, helping prevent conditions such as metabolic syndrome and type 2 diabetes, both usually associated with inflammatory states; these antioxidants also prove important in helping the skin retain moisture, keeping it soft and smooth.

Vitamin E, the antioxidant par excellence, makes olive oil an essential food for countering the appearance of free radicals, which do nothing but damage DNA. It also gives this precious food antithrombotic properties, promotes collagen synthesis, and helps strengthen capillary walls.

Other benefits of olive oil

Regularly consuming olive oil, especially raw, helps promote calcium absorption, benefiting bone mineralization. This benefit is linked to the presence of vitamin D, considered essential, particularly for pregnant women, in supporting the optimal development of the fetal skeleton.

Consuming olive oil is therefore recommended against osteoporosis, as it helps counter the loss of bone mineral density while at the same time boosting calcium deposition in the bones.

Olive oil proves to be an excellent natural remedy for those suffering from duodenal or stomach ulcers, helping limit the secretion of gastric juices. Diabetics, meanwhile, can benefit greatly, as the oil helps lower blood glucose levels.

Olive oil has a mild laxative effect, is filling, making it excellent for maintaining a healthy weight, and is a great remedy for easing joint pain, thanks to oleocanthal. This compound also proves important in fighting sore throats: consider that 50g of oil is equivalent to around 10% of a dose of ibuprofen, a common pain-relief medication.

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