Olive oil is the key component of the 'Mediterranean diet'---the way of drinking, eating and cooking of the peoples around the Mediterranean Sea that is generally assumed to be the reason why that region has so few cases of cardio-vascular disease and even of certain types of cancer. The human body needs fat to survive, and the (healthy) fatty acids of olive oil, together with the other minute components that make up olive oil, appear to play a very important role in maintaining good health. People have known that since the time of the Pharaohs, but the scientific proof has only come recently. In the first place, cold-pressed olive oil from fresh olives has a very high percentage (87%) of unsaturated fatty acids of the omega-9 type (oleic acid). Moreover, it is completely free of sodium and cholesterol. And that is all good news in terms of preventing and fighting cardio-vascular diseases. http://home.versateladsl.be/vt646291/samenstelling.doc.htm Cold-pressed olive oil from fresh olives also possesses a number of important groups of minor components, each of which is now being studied in a number of different research centres. The best known among the tocopherols is alpha-tocopherol (vitamin E), a powerful antioxidant. It slows the ageing process, protects the nervous system and widens the blood vessels. Just one tablespoon of olive oil contains three times the recommended daily allowance of vitamin E for humans as determined by the EU. http://www.vita-send.nl/vite.htm Besides the tocopherols, olive oil also contains many more groups of antioxidants in the form of sterols, steroids, phenols and hydrocarbons, some of which are actually unique to olive oil. The component beta sitosterol, for example, which has been shown to fight benign prostatic hyperplasia (BHP), is found only in cold-pressed olive oil: http://www.fonteine.com/olijfolie.html. It also turns out that the olive tree creates more natural squalene than any other plant, shrub or tree in the world (Guttfinger and Letan). This hydrocarbon antioxidant (which occurs in concentrated form in the liver of deep-sea sharks) has been shown to fight some forms of cancer, in particular colon cancer, gastrointestinal cancer, skin cancer and prostate cancer. For more information, click here (' Squalene in Olive Oil') . The new lipid oleocanthal that researchers in Philadelphia discovered in September 2005 has been found to work in precisely the same way as the anti-inflammatory and painkiller ibuprofen, albeit in a lower concentration: In 2007 a team of Spanish researchers at the universities of Málaga and Sevilla discovered yet another new component of olive oil: hydroxytyrosol. This antioxidant is thought to combat neurodegenerative problems like Alzheimer's disease. N.B.: the medicinal properties of olive oil are found only in extra virgin olive oil from fresh cold-pressed olives. Olive oil that is old (oxidised) or has been exposed to high temperatures (refined olive oil) essentially loses its natural wealth of vitamins and anti-oxidants.
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