Olive Oil

Olive oil is well known to be part of a healthful diet as it contains vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants. There is a caveat however: Olive oil must be of good quality to be healthful. Additionally, heating olive oil breaks down beneficial nutrients, so we do not recommend cooking with it at high temperatures. 

Most olive oils in the USA are labelled 'extra virgin', but are actually blends with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil. Companies use lesser oils to cut the expensive olive oils with cheaper oils as evidenced by reports here and here. For further reading, here is a well reviewed book concerning fraud in the olive oil industry.                                                                                                                                                                              

When olive oil hits your tongue the finish should be smooth, however there may be a peppery burn when it goes to the back of your throat. This burn is caused by polyphenols present in the olive oil. Polyphenols are phytochemicals (chemicals found naturally in many plants) which have antioxidant properties. There are several types of polyphenols that you may have heard of: Flavonoids (flavones, isoflavones, and thiocyanidins and catechins), Stilbenes (resveratrol), Lignans and Phenolic acids. Please check out Dr. Mercola's fantastic website for more information on Polyphenols, Dr. Mercola's Polyphenol page.

Propelling Wellness Research only uses first cold pressing organic extra virgin olive oil as it contains the most nutrients, is the least refined and highest quality. Currently, we use Iliada Kalamata PDO organic extra virgin olive oil from Greece due to its high quality.

This link will take you to where Propelling Wellness Research procures olive oil, Agrovim Iliada Organic Selection Extra Virgin Olive Oil: Agrovim Iliada Organic Selection