#25

It does seem good, products from Tuscany are often overpriced but this appears to be one of those niche products that are reasonably expensive, it’s organic and they cite the usual range of concentration in polyphenols (pretty high), which varies every harvest. I’m tempted to order it.
I’ve not started yet to explore the world of niche EVOOs, small packages with great flavour, but I’m being prodded by your suggestion, I’m going to get in touch with people who can give me some tips.

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#26

In central and southern Italy, it was customary to eat vegetables, like tomatoes or others, literally drowned in EVOO (at environment temperature). But now this custom is being lost.
EVOO is also used to cook, sometimes in significant amounts.
Over the years, there have been so many numerous opinions on the best oil for cooking that I forgot them, probably the most updated are those from AlexKChen.
What I would suggest to do with vegetables, is to cook them with little EVOO, then add more uncooked EVOO afterwards.

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#27

Agreed. I’m sticking with EVOO, and I don’t worry about seed oils because the intake quantity is so low.

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#28

I have a shot of EVOO every day that I mix various supplement powders into including piperine, turmeric, NMN, and hyaluronic acid.

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#29

I tried kosternia once, and while it’s supposedly high in polyphenols, and while it was definitely decent, to my tastebuds, it wasn’t nearly as nice as the EVOO I was using at the time which was priced similarly. The one I was using has become too expensive, so I’m currently on the hunt.

I did just order a non EVOO to have around when I need something neutral with a really high smoke point (over 500). It’s Algae Cooking Club. It was on sale at thrive market for 13.95.

@mccoy I’ll look forward to seeing if you wind up having more tips and recommendations. And ha on the Italians. I was at someone’s house recently who also has a house in Italy, and I was raving over their food. They said it’s because we do things the Italian way and drown everything in good olive oil!!! In order to reduce my oil consumption, as you suggested, I cook with as little oil as I can get away with and then drizzle some on top afterwards. I’d be a much better cook if I used more oil and salt!!

EDIT:
Hold the presses!!! It says algae oil has 75% less sat fat than EVOO… this might mean I can use it a little more liberally… more research is needed to see if there is a downside, but my arteries are excited!!

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#30

Yes, it was a top choice for Blueprint enthusiasts awhile back, but it was hard to find what it was called again. The taste surprised me, but I’ve had higher quality EVOO’s in the past and it’s all well regulated so I don’t think I’ve had fraudulent EVOO up to this point.

I don’t remember where he’s from but Luigi Fontana has suggested his grandma barely used EVOO or wine, much smaller amounts than pouring it over, and the diet which people researchers associated with healthy was in the 60’s or earlier in the Med.

At the same time using a lot of EVOO tastes great so if it’s calorie dense can combine it with nutrient but low calorie dense foods.

I think the largest benefit of the diet has been decreasing apoB by their choice of fat. Luckily I have only used EVOO my entire life, only recently dabbled a bit with canola oil. No cooking with butter or similar things.

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#31

Luigi Fontana and Valter Longo, two eminent gerontologists, are both from Italy. Longo recommends liberal amounts of EVOO (until calorically feasible), whereas Fontana, I just don’t remember.
In Italy, EVOO was used in coastal and hillside areas, whereas in mountainous regions the available fats were butter and lard. I can imagine that EVOO was used sparingly in the past because there was no wealth in Italy, it was pretty hard to end the day with a full stomach and the stock of EVOO had to last until next harvest.

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#32

And, a curiosity I just found, this topic sent me back over 50 years. The traditional container for EVOO in my region was this one, glass, usually 5 to 10 liters, stocked into cool basements in the dark. Later on, steel containers became usual. The bag in box package is very recent.

image

And, if we want really go waaay back in time, something like two thousands years ago, the usual container for EVOO in the Roman empire was this one. Cooked clay.

image

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#33

Can’t go a long time without thinking about the Roman Empire. :joy:

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#34

Observational studies should be a low quality reason for changing the diet. It’s interesting but I would love to see robust RCTs to confirm these findings.

In my case, I’ve read and I’ve also seen in my biomarkers that Omega 3s help me with many things.

#35

Yes, Mr. Musk’s more recent fixation, apparently.
I wonder why its fascination. The Mongol Empire commanded far more land. Subutai, its top general, surpassed all Roman generals in sheer conquest.

image

But the Roman empire was the one which lasted longer I reckon, a few centuries.

I used to love history.

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#36

My favorite Mongol fact is that they did not believe in bathing and would only change clothes when they disintegrated. Probably their key to military success was overcoming their enemies with the foulest stench known to man when they engaged in hand to hand combat.

Mongols refused to wash because they believed that very powerful spirits lived in the rivers and streams, and if they polluted the water by bathing in it, it would offend the spirits. For the same reason, they would never wash their clothes or eating vessels.

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#37

I didn’t know that. The Mongol law in some period, certainly during Ogedei, was not to wash in rivers during the day, but at night it was allowed, probably because streamwater was collected during the day. Many stories are told and who knows which ones are reliable.
There is also the story about the man who plunged in the day and was taken before the emperor, Odugai. that was pretty common in medieval times, not washing much. I think if we could step back in time we would be overwhelmed by the stench, everywhere, except full in the open air and far from other people

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#38

Are there any disadvantages to using non-refined Avocado oil for cooking at high temperatures? I do this for frying foods.

#39

Does anyone eat artichokes drowned in sunflower oil? Those come in glass jars and are at every American supermarket like trader Joe’s

But I need to know if the oil is like… not rancid

#40

That’s a favourite preserved food in the Italian tradition (carciofini sott’olio), sometimes they are made at home, a pretty lengthy process, cutting artichokes, boiling them in a pot with vinegar and lemon, boiling the jars, dripping the artichokes, then drown them in the jar with oil (EVOO in households, sunflowers commercially). I think the high concentration in tocopherols avoids oxydation, you can be almost 100% sure until expiration, barred air bubbles or a faulty process.
I would let the artichokes drip well before eating them.

image

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#42

The Mediterranean Diet has about a quarter of calories coming from Olive Oil!

One thing that I think maybe important ( certainly for me) is that putting olive oil on salads etc increases my intake of pulses and vegetables because they taste so much nicer. I’ve never really understood the idea of drinking a shot of olive oil because it doesn’t taste very nice and because you don’t get the added benefit of a healthier overall diet.

One thing to add is that evoo seems good for apob, ldl oxidation and blood brain barrier function.

this post from another thread covers a lot of the research supporting extra virgin olive oil over seed oils.

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#43

You kinda answered your own question there, haha.

There’s quite a nice writeup in JACC: https://www.jacc.org/doi/10.1016/j.jacc.2021.11.006

In this well-designed study, with long-term follow-up and repeated measurements of dietary intake and other risk factors for diseases, participants who reported the highest olive oil consumption (>0.5 tablespoon/day or >7 g/d) had 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality, 19% lower risk of CVD mortality, 17% lower risk of cancer mortality, 29% lower risk of neurodegenerative disease mortality, and 18% lower risk of respiratory disease mortality compared with those who never or rarely consumed olive oil after adjustment for known risk factors and other dietary factors.

IMO, benefits likely from a combination of the removal (substitution) of “bad” oil/fat sources from the diet, and MUFAs. As the editorial says, other oils also had benefits.

I don’t think the polyphenols play much of a role, and most studies using isolated polyphenols haven’t been very impressive.

That said, I still take around 10g of EVOO per day (as a shot, with vinegar), and I buy good, fresh stuff with validated polyphenol content - just in case!

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#44

Large Study of Dietary Habits Suggests More Plant Oils, Less Butter Could Lead to Better Health

The study, which followed the dietary choices of more than 200,000 people over 30 years, found that diets higher in butter but low in plant oils were associated with elevated risk of mortality.

People who consume plant-based oil instead of butter may experience beneficial health effects and even have a lower risk of premature death, according to a new study by investigators from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. The researchers examined diet and health data from 200,000 people followed for more than 30 years and found that higher intake of plant-based oils, especially soybean, canola, and olive oil, was associated with lower total, cancer, and cardiovascular disease mortality, whereas butter intake was associated with increased risk of total and cancer mortality. The results are published in JAMA Internal Medicine and presented simultaneously at the American Heart Association EPI/Lifestyle Scientific Sessions.

“What’s surprising is the magnitude of the association that we found — we saw a 17% lower risk of death when we modeled swapping butter with plant-based oils in daily diet. That is a pretty huge effect on health,” said study lead author Yu Zhang, MBBS, research assistant at the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system. Zhang is also a student in the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard Chan School.

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#45

Anti-Aging Potential of Avocado Oil via Its Antioxidant Effects

Aging is a process characterized by tissue degeneration, increased susceptibility to chronic degenerative diseases, infections, and the appearance of neoplasms, which leads to disability and a reduction in the length and quality of life. This phenomenon is the result of the convergence of multiple processes, including mitochondrial dysfunction, fibrosis, inflammation, dysregulation of cell death processes, and immunosenescence. These processes have as their point of convergence an increase in the production of ROS. Avocado oil (Persea americana Mill.) contains a diverse array of bioactive compounds, including oleic acid, phytosterols, chlorophylls, xanthones, xanthines, and carotenoids. These bioactive compounds have the capacity to modulate the excessive production of ROS, thereby reducing the progression of age-related diseases and extending lifespan in experimental models of aging. In addition, several studies have demonstrated the efficacy of avocado oil in mitigating age-related diseases, including hypertension; insulin resistance; diabetes; non-alcoholic liver disease; and degenerative processes such as hearing loss, cognitive decline, neurodegeneration, and impaired wound healing. In light of these findings, it is hypothesized that avocado oil is a promising agent capable of promoting healthspan in later stages of life owing to its direct antioxidant actions and the activation of pathways that enhance endogenous antioxidant levels.

Open Access Paper:

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