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Farm Kitchen:  Extra Virgin Olive oil mimics painkiller  |
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melody
True Blue Farmgirl
3318 Posts
Melody
The Great North Woods in the Land of Hiawatha
USA
3318 Posts |
 Posted - Apr 19 2009 : 5:41:21 PM
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Since Florence has been in the hospital for AAA and Carotid endarterectomy, I have been scouring the web for information relating to the consumption of olive oil and it's medicinal qualities.
(I use olive oil for everything!---even in my soap!!)
Here is what I found...
Good news for lovers of extra virgin olive oil: besides being delicious on salads it also contans a compound that mimics the effects of ibuprofen. So a Mediterrranean style diet might give you the supposed longterm benefits of that drug, such as a a reduced cancer risk.
A daily dose of 50-g or 4-tablespoons of olive oil confers the equivalent of around 10% of the recommended ibuprofen dose for adult pain relief, say the researchers led by Paul Breslin of the Monell Chemical Senses Center at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia, who discovered the effect. So although it won't cure a headache, it may give you some of the long-term benefits of repeated ibuprofen use, including helping to ward off Alzheimer's.
This compound is called OLEOCANTHAL and acts in the same way as ibuprofen to stifel components of a pain pathway called the prostaglandin system.
The coumpound should be present in any extra-virgin olive oil, Breslin says. But concentratons will vary depending on a range of factors, such as the variety of olive and the age of the olives at pressing. So how do you know which olive oil will give you the biggest dose?? Breslin says, supermarket style extra virgin olive oils will be relatively low in this compound. But there are inexpensive olive oils available that have high levels.
There is a simple rule of thumb to help you out: oleocanthal is also responsible for the throat stinging sensation of a good extra virgin oil. The way to check is to sip the oil neat and see how strongly it stings the throat. The greater the sting....the greater the oleocanthal level.
One more thing, the long term side effects of ibuprofen can also include damage to the kidneys and digestive system. But as oleocanthal has a different chemical structure, it is unclear whether these effects would also occur with a diet rich in olive oil.
PASS THE PASTA PLEASE!!
Melody
Farmgirl #525
http://melodynotes-melodynotes.blogspot.com
www.bythebayhandcraftedsoap.com
www.lemonverbenasoap.etsy.com
www.andsewitgoes.etsy.com |
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catscharm74
True Blue Farmgirl
4687 Posts
Heather
Texas
USA
4687 Posts |
Posted - Apr 19 2009 : 5:47:58 PM
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Melody- I grew up in a half Italian family. My full Italian grandparents had good health for the most part. They ate a very typical Med. diet...lots of pasta, loads of olive oil, red wine, cheese, very little on the pastry side of things, lots of fruits as is. I think their diseases they eventually passed on from were from stress and poor habits in later life- as in eating gallons of ice cream and no exercise.
Heather
Yee-Haw, I am a cowgirl!!!
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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Farm Kitchen: Extra Virgin Olive oil mimics painkiller |
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Extra Virgin Olive oil mimics painkiller
