Alech Alice - The 7 wonders of olive oil: stronger bones, cancer prevention, higher brain function, and other medical miracles of the green nectar

Copyright 2017 by Alice Alech and Ccile Le Galliard

All rights reserved.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 2016954732

Print ISBN 9781942934738

Ebook ISBN 9781944822361

Hardcover ISBN 9781944822378

Printed in the United States of America

Edited by Lindsay Sandberg and Elena Gonzalez

Cover design by David Miles

Book design by Brooke Jorden

Charts and illustrations by Adam Eastburn

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

First Edition

Stronger Bones, Cancer Prevention,
Higher Brain Function, and Other
Medical Miracles of the Green Nectar

ALICE ALECH AND CCILE LE GALLIARD

D ISCLAIMER N OTICE

This book is not intended as a substitute for medical advice. Readers should consult their physician in matters relating to health, especially if the symptoms require medical attention.

The authors would like to point out that the olive oil world, in regards to both business and culture, is a changing one. New information, studies, results, and figures will not be the same in years to come. The authors made every effort to ensure the information in this book was correct at press time. Both the authors and the publisher disclaim any liability caused by error or omission.

Who We Are

We are two olive oil enthusiasts living in different regions in France. Ccile lives in Southwest France, a little less than 100 kilometers from the Spanish border, and Alice lives in a small village in Provence, around 90 kilometers inland from Nice.

We first met on the Internet a few years ago through our writing on olive oil features and stories, Alice through her writing covering olive oil news from France and Ccile on her French blog Jus dolive .

We started sharing our knowledge and resources essentially for our writing, building a strong working relationship before we finally met. The idea of writing this book came one day when it dawned on us that even though the world is slowly recognizing the goodness of olive oil, there is still much to learn. We pooled our knowledge and our expertise, enlisted the help of experts, and embarked on preparing The 7 Wonders of Olive Oil . It led us to family farms and research institutions and allowed us to talk to researchers, nutritionists, and chefs.

We, too, had much more to learn about the nutritional secrets of this highly beneficial food.

We hope you enjoy reading this book as much as we did writing it.

C ONTENTS

I NTRODUCTION

A beautiful French woman, Jeanne Calment, lived to be 122 years old. Toward the end of her life, when asked the secret of her longevity and her relatively youthful appearance, she had two words: olive oil. This supercentenarian French lady was alert right until the end of her life.

Olive oil, our gift from Mother Nature, has always been praised by dietitians, nutritionists, and medical researchers worldwide. They say, Olive oil is good for your health and well-being. Today, consumers are more health conscious. More curious than ever, they want to understand the medical research behind the health benefits, they need to know how they should be taking this monounsaturated fat, and, most importantly, they want to understand why they should include extra-virgin olive oil in their daily diets. Countless studies on the different health benefits of olive oil have been discussed over the years, and scientists are constantly discovering more. We could not include all these research projects, but what we discuss in The 7 Wonders of Olive Oil is based on interviews with the researchers involved in the studies, published research carried out in laboratory studies, randomized clinical trials, and observational studies. Without being too academic, we describe health conditions and show the extraordinary work and positive results that scientists have achieved so far.

In order to fully grasp the work of these researchers, consumers need to understand olive oil. What youll find in 7 Wonders in addition to the astounding health benefits of olive oilis a comprehensive guide to extra-virgin olive oil, how its made, and the different types of olive oil available, as well as tips on storing and cooking.

Excellent olive oil comes from excellent fruit. This is one of the first things we as olive oil enthusiasts have come to appreciate more and more. We also realize that even though olive oil is one of the oldest products in history, not many people understand the basics of olive oil production, what a well-balanced extra-virgin olive oil should taste like, or, equally important, the practical side of buying, storing, and cooking with olive oil. This book answers all of these questions.

The 7 Wonders of Olive Oil has three major sections:

Part I looks at the history of the Mediterranean culture, followed by a description of olive oil processing. It covers harvesting and milling, looking at some of the choices modern-day producers have to facequestions such as when the best time to pick the olives is and whether or not producers should filter the oil. We conclude this section by discussing the complicated business of fats and how olive oil is different from other oils.

Part II is a more in-depth study of the healthful characteristics of olive oil. It describes the research into the nutritional, medicinal, and cosmetic values of olive oil. We show you through scientific discoveries that olive oil is a therapeutic agent fighting diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and Alzheimers and why it is so important to incorporate this gift from Mother Nature into our daily diets for health and beauty.

Dr. Oreste Gualillo, one of the scientists whose findings contributed to this book, sums up the value of this research:

Natural products have been used for thousands of years for the treatment of many diseases and pathological conditions. Thus, nature is a vast source of bioactive molecules from terrestrial and marine environments. Many of these natural products have gone on to become current drug candidates. The era of modern pharmacology is the result of man experimenting by trial and error for hundreds of centuries through palatability trials or untimely deaths, searching for available foods for the treatment of diseases.

What he means by this is that Nature has been providing the necessary ingredients for healthful living since the beginning. We are just using the elements that she offers to us to find healing.

In Part III, we offer you practical advice and information to help you figure out what it is that you should look for when purchasing olive oil. Food magazines and cookbooks say you should be using olive oil in the kitchen, but the choices in the supermarkets these days are overwhelming. As consumers, you want to understand the tricky business of labeling, especially when olive oil quality and authenticity are being questioned. This final section explains why you should not reject oil just because it causes a sting at the back of your throat and how to store your oil once you buy it.

The olive oil world has changed over the years. Olive oil keeps making the news, attracting the attention of people from all walks of lifefrom health-conscious baby boomers to nutritionists and medical experts.