#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.

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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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#47

Listening in on FDA’s meeting on infant formula, I can’t help to feel like it’s like out of a meeting in 1930’s USSR when Lysenko had his psuedoscience theories about genetics and farming reach the Party inner circle. The Party asks you to reject what you see and experience with your own eyes. The empirical evidence about seed oils must be disregarded. It’s absolutely of critical importance that you follow the Party doctrine and all conclusions must fit it.

The FDA dystopic meeting had its scientist already reaching the conclusion (seed oils ex ante is bad), we must therefore create alternatives to it, and we must target infant formula. The scientists did their mental gymnastics to tow the Party line as best they could and carefully, no one spoke up and said it’s bullshit. Seed oils are in infant formula since Omega-6 and Omega-3 are ESSENTIAL fatty acids, and seed oils have plenty of them. They are neither non-traditional, sesame seed oil has been eaten for thousands of years. Seed oils have feeding studies alleviating for alleviating fatty acid deficiencies. It’s really RFK’s show with total disregard for free thinking inside his agencies that don’t follow his Party line. Unfortunate, no one cares about taking a look at the evidence as it is and questioning assumptions.

“You can resolve to live your life with integrity. Let your credo be this: Let the lie come into the world, let it even triumph. But not through me.”
― Alexander Solzhenitsyn

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#48

I remember reading about Lysenko, if I’m not wrong, his theory was supported by Stalin.

I checked and yes, Stalin liked him. Listening to him with interest…

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#49

I just received an email from Frantoi.org (heard about them on ZOE podcast, they sell subscriptions to EVO) that the harvest for this year’s EVO is starting now and will be happening in other regions very shortly.

I try to buy EVO that has olives from one region and was harvested and bottled quickly, and purchased during the current year.

(I’m vegan, so I find splurging on good oil and spices to be very worthwhile for me, especially because my food is relatively very inexpensive)

I’ve been buying Obia EVO at a local shop. The website says harvest from fall 2024 had polyphenols of 500. It’s my favorite tasting oil that I can buy locally (having said that, I have not tried the $50 bottles on the shelf)

The adorable chef, Samin Nosrat, said she likes Fat Gold, and the guy from Wirecutter (NYT) recently said the same, so I just ordered a can. The 2024 batch has a biophenol level of 629, so I thought it was worth trying. It’s good, but I don’t like it nearly as much as the flavor of Obia.

That leads me to my post here…

I’m wanting to see if I can order high polyphenol EVO for 2025 that might be super yummy.

It stands to reason that they need to finish the harvest of the next batch in order to test their polyphenol levels. I don’t know exactly how it works, but maybe you do @mccoy? For example, if one brand had a high level one year, do those olives necessarily have similar levels the next year, and so on? And, if you like a brand, does their oil taste the same next year, or is it like wine and it all depends?

I know when I went to do this last year, I was too late and all the highest level stuff was sold out, so I’m trying to figure this out ahead of time for this year.

If anyone has sources to recommend, I’d love to check them out! I am still happy to learn more about EVO because I only really know about the freshness aspect.

I don’t drink much anymore, so being OCD about EVO sorta replaces my interest in wine :).

#50

Eversince I read the NYTimes investigative story on Olove Oil Mafia many many year ago…we have switched to local.
Fortunately here in Northern California, NAPA and around took over olive harvesting besides wine business.
We get it sourced from local certified organic grower with freshest time stamped harvest. Boy, it tastes out of world.
Even Costco has started selling it…at least locally!
One of the local brands…

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#51

Great to know! My husband just told me he picked up a bottle of that the other day at Costco to try (we are in CA, too).

I just looked them up. They don’t seem to measure the polyphenols, so who knows on that part, but an organic, fresh, well priced oil, FTW. I’m now looking forward to tasting it! It won’t be for a while because I have two other new bottles that are already opened (because I was impatient to try the Fat Gold, which is also a CA product)

We actually bought a few old growth olive trees from northern CA… those groves are magical!

#52

A singular olive, one, uno, chased by a shot of canola oil will give you more polyphenols than any premium EVOO. You also have replaced saturated fat with LA and ALA reducing your cardiovascular risk among other things.

I think canola oil might be a superfood.

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#53

That is a great tip!!!

To your sat fat point, when I’m not using EVO, I’ve been using Algae cooking oil because I discovered that has less sat fat than evo and canola. I recently ran out so maybe now I replace that with canola oil?

Because you seem to know a lot about this topic, maybe you can educate me a bit?
I only know the very basics.

I took a test a few months back and it said my AA/EPA ratio was too high. Mine is 18.1 vs the reference range of 2.5-10.9. I don’t understand the topic well enough to know what, if anything, I should do about this. And where do oils fit into this equation, if they do. Any thoughts? I consume plenty of nuts and seeds because they are said to be healthy, but was left not being sure if it’s healthier not to consume them in an effort to lower my ratio. I’ve assumed not, so I haven’t.

Incase it’s relevant, I don’t eat fish but I take algae supplements for my omega 3s. My omega 3 level was almost 8. Just slightly low.

I don’t do shots of oil like many of you do only because I try not to go too crazy on oil due to having heart disease, so I save it for food just to make it taste better.

#54

Yes, Dr. Joel Kahn also discovered similar things in looking at studies like this. Said Canola is likely cardiac friendly.

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#55

That’s an alien fatty acid composition if I’ve ever seen one.

You mentioned it, what does it do, what are different levels associated with?

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#56

Even more alien wizardry, cooking oil made from fermented sugarcane:

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#57

I don’t know much about this topic at all.

I only saw that my ratio was 18.1 vs the goal range which caps out at 10.9, at least on the test I took.

Google clearly says a high ratio is associated with inflammation and cardiovascular disease, but when I look to see how to improve my ratio, it says take an omega 3 supplement (check), and consume less omega 6’s…. But the catch is when I look at the worst offending omega 6 foods, I don’t consume any of the less healthy ones (many vegetable oils, etc), but it seems like a bad idea to reduce the healthy ones, like nuts and seeds, so I haven’t done anything about it. But I was hoping you’d know if I should? Or maybe the better answer is to double my omega 3 supplement… or do as I’ve been doing which is ignoring it.

A very uneducated guess of mine is that perhaps it’s a predictor of inflammation/cvd because most people with a high ratio have it due to eating a bad diet. But google is very clear that a high ratio is bad, so perhaps it’s not really related to the actual foods you are consuming and the imbalance is truly what the problem is.