That an healthy and balanced diet is essential for maintaining physical efficiency is well known, at least in countries where nutrition is no longer critical. Before treatments, the interest of the medical community is to raise awareness among citizens towards the prevention of diseases and thus ensuring well-being over time. Proper nutrition is one of the pillars of prevention. There are simple rules behind good nutrition: regularity of meals, the amount of daily calories, the breakdown between carbohydrates, vitamins, proteins and lipids. The Mediterranean diet, widely recognized as the best of food styles, offers an excellent trace to follow in terms of the nutritional elements that make up meals. It offers us a nutritional model inspired by the food models common in some Mediterranean countries in the 1950s; is recognized by UNESCO as a protected asset and included in the list of oral and intangible heritage of humanity in 2010. If the type of food is indicated in the diet the choice of the quality of the same is a prerogative of each. Certainly a food style based on a Mediterranean diet, consuming quality products is the best treatment we can give ourselves in healthy and organoleptic terms. High quality extra virgin olive oil used raw is the ideal condiment for Mediterranean diet dishes. In addition to keeping cholesterol levels at bay, it is indicated for combating cellular aging. We can use it raw anywhere, in salads, to dress pasta, fish or meat. Rather than on the bread for the traditional bruschetta.

Cholesterol Friend

Extra Virgin Olive oil (aka EVO oil) makes an important contribution to the regulation of cholesterol levels in the blood by going to perform a protective activity on the arteries. Problems with the cardiovascular system, such as heart attacks or strokes, are often caused by narrowing of veins and arteries due to the formation of plaque over time, when levels of LDL cholesterol (also called bad cholesterol) reach high levels. Regular use in feeding extra virgin olive oil helps to lower the bad component of cholesterol (LDL) while keeping the positive HDL component unchanged. As we are told by the doctors in the face of hematological examinations, besides the absolute value of LDL it is important that the ratio with HDL (LDL / HDL) is less than 3. Lowering LDL and maintaining high HDL allows reducing the value of the relationship. extra virgin olive oil, besides enriching our dishes with taste and flavor, is a very valuable aid in the prevention of cardiovascular risk.

Antioxidant capacity

When we examine the oil from a sensory point of view, the two main elements we evaluate are bitter and spicy, whose intensity is directly linked to the quality of the product. Both of these two characteristics are due to the presence of elements such as polyphenols, vitamin E and tocopherol, which perform an antioxidant action. So much for the product itself, ensuring the persistence of qualities over time (oxidation is one of the main causes of deterioration) than for our body thanks to the fight against free radicals responsible for cellular damage that lead to aging.

It must be well anyway clear that oil, not even the best EVO, is no a medicine.

It should therefore be used with awareness, avoiding abuse, given the caloric capacity possessed.