Extra Virgin Olive Oil: properties and benefits for the health

Reach for extra virgin olive oil for flavor and fragrance, but also for what it does for your health: it is a friend to the heart, an anticancer ally, and a friend of youth.

What makes it different

Why extra virgin olive oil stands apart

Olive oil has been known and used since ancient times, and it is one of the pillars of the Mediterranean Diet. Countless clinical and epidemiological studies point to it as the best and most suitable fat for human nutrition among all the edible oils in wide use. The reason is simple: extra virgin olive oil is the only oil produced purely by squeezing olives, with no chemical solvents or industrial steps, unlike most other vegetable oils and fats. It has stayed a genuine, natural product over the years — an olive juice that carries every precious substance from the fruit straight into the oil.

Heart and health

The fats that protect your heart

Research by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) points to several healthy substances in the oil. Monounsaturated fatty acids are the most active in preventing cardiovascular problems, and oleic acid helps regulate cholesterol — lowering LDL ("bad") cholesterol relative to HDL ("good") cholesterol. Oleic acid prevents arterial lesions and lowers the risk of heart attack, stroke, thrombosis and coronary heart disease in general. These monounsaturated fats also make the oil unusually resistant to alteration: well preserved, it does not turn rancid, and it cooks well even at high temperatures — in frying, for instance — without forming the harmful substances that oils rich in polyunsaturated fats, such as most seed oils, can produce. It is also the only condiment used when weaning infants, since it contains the essential polyunsaturated fats w6 and w3 in the same balanced relationship found in breast milk.

Natural antioxidants

Polyphenols, the substance that sets it apart

What further distinguishes extra virgin oils from other oils is their content of polyphenols, powerful natural antioxidants. Most plants store their oil inside a seed — hazelnut, soy, sunflower and so on. The olive does something unusual: it concentrates its fat in the pulp, the outer part of the fruit, an unstable environment full of water and enzymes that keep degrading the fruit once it is picked. Olive fats start at a disadvantage compared to seed fats, and that is where polyphenols step in, protecting the fat in that watery, unfavorable setting — much as they protect the fats found in the watery environment of our own cells.

Polyphenols matter for our health too: they protect the integrity of cell membranes, defend against the formation and development of several types of tumor, and appear to help counter memory loss and other cognitive decline linked to aging. They also protect vitamin E from oxidation. Polyphenols carry a bitter, spicy taste, so an oil with those two notes is an oil with polyphenols in it. Only high-quality oils with at least 250 mg of polyphenols per kilo may state their presence on the label — some contain far more, and those are real health elixirs. Look for the wording on the label.

The beauty vitamin

Vitamin E and a natural defense for the skin

Extra virgin olive oil is a natural source of vitamin E, a powerful antioxidant that protects cell membranes from aging. That is why it is called the vitamin of beauty. The more a fat is rich in oxidizable fats, the more vitamin E it needs to protect them from free radicals, so what matters is not how much vitamin E a fat contains in absolute terms, but how much relative to its oxidizable fats. Thanks to squalene, the oil is also thought to help counteract skin cancers.

Extra virgin olive oil is, in short, the most balanced condiment nature offers, rich in substances that benefit the body. It is also low in saturated fats — the ones responsible for raising blood cholesterol and linked directly to arterial occlusion, arteriosclerosis and myocardial infarction. Extra virgin olive oil contains very little of them, to the benefit of your health.

Keeping it at its best

How to store and use it

Extra virgin olive oil, as the basis of the Mediterranean Diet, is best used raw whenever possible. Storage matters too: it should always be bottled in stainless steel or dark glass, away from light, air and heat. Try to consume it fresh — aging does not help it; it strips away fragrance, taste, and above all the polyphenols so important to your well-being.

Discover Torciano extra virgin olive oil in the estate's gourmet shop.

One bottle, squeezed and nothing else — that is the whole secret.