Olive Oil

I saw it and thought the same, quite how I'm going to have it raw I'm not sure yet.. don't fancy 'necking' it from a glass and I only have salad once or twice a week so any suggestions would be good , I do use it on roasted vegs I suppose I could pour it over when they are on my plate.

Well, we're having a stirfry tonight, so we thought we might pour it over the veg in that. I do like dipping bread but that's not very good if you're trying to lose weight ?. I'm like you though, don't fancy just drinking it!

I am deeply suspicious of some of these studies but have no problem having that much olive oil in a day. I always make our lunchtime salad with an olive oil dressing. I use organic, extra virgin olive oil and get through litres of the stuff. I use it a lot in cooking too.
Is heart disease historically much lower in Spain, Italy and Greece? I was observing this morning how many more Spanish people seem to be overweight now; is this because they are eating more processed food and sugary drinks?

We frequently do escalivada, where you barbecue aubergines, courgettes, onions etc; peel off the skins and then slosh lots of olive oil over. We don't eat bread but if I needed to find even more ways to eat it, I would serve more green or tomato salads with dinner.

It does seem to be Mamie. The study itself seemed reasonable. DH, who is a scientist himself and often tears these sort of reports to pieces, is impressed enough to try it. There clearly is something about the mediterranean diet that is good for your heart and it doesn't appear to be just the vegetables.

I saw the programme too and after thinking how I could manage more olive oil I decided to add it to my tomato, avocado and nut smoothie. Very nice actually, a bit like a cold soup. I shall now try it with other fruit/veg combination.

Mamie they also tested olive oil versus extra virgin and there was no difference between the cheapie olive oil and the expensive stuff.

No I am sure not tanith for the purposes of the study, but we eat organic wherever possible and extra virgin tastes so much better.
I think there is a lot of nonsense talked about the "mediterranean" diet, but eating real food with natural fats and lots of fish and fresh vegetables sounds good to me. We were in a fabulous Spanish market this morning and the produce was amazing.

I also watched the programme and like others, do not want to take it "neat". I rarely eat salads during winter so that is a non starter. It will have to be added to my nutri bullet I think.

I watched this too and winced at 20mls/day when I remember inducing labour by swigging castor oil and orange juice (I just hope the unwanted side effects don't materialise!)
I know it's not the same oil but........

Olive oil is nice over sliced tomatoes and some balsamic vinegar added. Being acidic they need more oil than vinegar on them. I often use it instead of butter in any bread I make and infused with garlic it is good in a dressing. Green beans when cooked and still hot can be tossed in oil with crushed garlic - delicious- and it can also go into couscous. I often use it instead of other fat but I use mainly coconut oil for any cooking in the pan and if doing chips in the actifry. Like Mamie I use a good quality cold pressed oil. I find it surprising they found no difference with the cheaper oils as some of those are pressed with heat.

I was always told that the Mediterranean diet was only healthier than others because the way the death certificate recorded death. In the uk they have to be explicit in other countries they are quite happy for old age (over55 I believe) to be the reason for death. I'm happy to be corrected on this .

I also remember doing a cordon Bleu course in the seventies and needing olive oil. DM bought it at the chemists. I think it was for blocked ears. Times have changed.

That's a few calories too isn't it. I'm guessing in the region of 400? Anyone know the reference for the study? Should try to catch up on it on Iplayer but they don't tend to reference studies on telly.

Hmmm, I would find it very hard to use that much olive oil. I don't even have it in my cupboard.

Jess, here's the reference you asked for: www.gla.ac.uk/news/archiveofnews/2014/november/headline_376522_en.html

I mix one tablespoonful into my porridge. Delicious ?

Now tha'ts not a bad idea Bellasnana I could do that.

My OH uses it for mashed potatoes. You could always buy olive oil capsules if you can't add enough to your diet. Available online.

Oh my why didn't I think of that chelseababy I didn't realise you could buy them I'm going to look now.

2 tablespoons of olive oil is about 240 calories.

Badenkate that'll scupper the diet but I suspect I'd feel pretty icky after swallowing 20mls so won't feel like eating anyway!

I looked online for the capsules, now Durex ads keep appearing!

Thank you for the link Badenkate
It appears to be a study that showed that in experimental subjects there were some measurable physiological changes during the time they consumed olive oil.
They consumed 20ml a day - 4 of those plastic medicine teaspoons which are 5ml
(i don't think this adds up to 2 tablespoons does it.... more like 1 tablespoon If I remember what my school cookery teacher taught me - 2 tsps= 1 dessert spoon and 2 dessert spoons = 1 tablespoon. Yes - just rifled through cutlery drawer and did a quick real-world verification)
(So only 120 calories!)
Getting back to the study. I think there is a reason to temper our enthusiasm.
The study did not show any improvement in any clinical measure of "heart health". It did not show any reduction in heart attacks. It showed a change in a chemical that some academics think might prove one day to be a useful screening device. And the test is being manufactured by a private company that is probably hoping every middle aged person who goes for a routine blood test will have one of these patented tests.
And it is just one study.
To prove that 4 tsps of olive oil a day prevents heart attacks you'd have to have a large group of people taking their dose of olive oil every day and compare them to a carefully matched group of people who were consuming very little. You'd ideally have to match them for age, ethnicity, sex, whether they smoked, how much exercise etc etc Or else use twins - which does not happen very often.
And after about 10 years, you'd count the heart attacks in the two groups, and they you would know.
So steady on folks. This is a long way off proving anything. So you may not want to swig wine glasses full of the stuff just yet.