Extra virgin olive oil and health, the link is really very close and to make it known, Parovel is engaged in a new project to disseminate the beneficial properties of extra virgin olive oil: a path in collaboration with Natalia Rosso and Claudio Tiribelli of the Italian Liver Foundation and with Deborah Bonazza of ASUGI. In fact, a close correlation has been found between the use of extra virgin olive oil and liver health.
Deborah Bonazza, pathologist at ASUGI, studies liver pathologies with particular attention to liver metabolic diseases (steatosis and steatohepatitis) of the inhabitants of our Friuli Venezia Giulia region and explains to us that liver diseases are on the increase in our region of Friuli Venezia Giulia. These conditions are due to various factors, among these a decisive role is played by the incorrect lifestyle. To study the processes underlying the onset of these alterations, there has been close cooperation with the Italian Liver Foundation for years.
The collaboration with Claudio Tiribelli, scientific director and with Natalia Rosso, senior scientist of the Italian Liver Foundation, is therefore important which are involved in the research of mechanisms involved in chronic liver diseases. For years they have been particularly interested in the study of fatty liver and the impact that nutrition has in the progression / regression of the disease.
The multidisciplinary group of which Parovel is a part therefore goes to discover the properties and qualities of this importance with the aim of correlating the use of extra virgin olive oil with an individual's health condition. After all, Feuerbach argued that "we are what we eat" and we started from this statement to analyze the effects that extra virgin olive oil has on digestion, immunity and liver function.
EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL AND LIVER
Anti-inflammatory properties of extra virgin olive oil
The spicy taste of EVO oil is due to the presence of oleocanthal, a substance contained mainly in olives and extra virgin olive oil and is reducing over time. The duration of EVO oil with average organoleptic characteristics is 18 months.
The oleocanthal is the molecule responsible for the “spiciness in the throat,” or rather the spicy sensation that we feel when we ingest high-quality EVO oil. The importance and peculiarity of this substance is in possession of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory features. Its anti-inflammatory action on the body is very similar to ibuprofen, one of the most widely used non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) such as acetylsalicylic acid, paracetamol and ibuprofen, differ from steroids in that they have significantly fewer undesirable effects and in that their analgesic effect does not belong to the class of narcotics.
The discovery of the oleocanthal is attributed to Dr. Gary Beauchamp, scientist and biologist who works at the Monell Chemical Sense Center in Philadelphia, in an organoleptic laboratory, which is mainly dedicated to the testing of substances and the quantification of their sensory characteristics. Gary, during a molecular nutrition congress in Sicily, was invited to taste extra virgin olive oils in an oil mill. Trying extra virgin olive oil, he found the tingle left by the oil on his throat familiar. Gary was working on the taste of various liquid ibuprofen solutions and the itch of the olive oil reminded him of ibuprofen.
A healthy lifestyle can prevent the onset of multiple diseases. Hippocrates (about 460 BC) argued that medicine must not cure, but avoid avoidable evils. A somewhat current concept developed by preventive medicine. “make food your medicine and medicine be your food”.
To do this, it is essential to be informed and aware. It is a work of research, analysis and responsibility, a work that must be carried out by a multidisciplinary team where everyone brings their experience and shares it with a view to deepening and growth, so that the information is clear and accessible to all.
Project's team:
Parovel vigneti oliveti 1898
Natalia Rosso e Claudio Tiribelli - Fondazione Italiana Fegato
Deborah Bonazza - ASUGI
