You've probably heard that the Mediterranean diet is good for you. You may be surprised to hear what I consider a prime reason for the lower rates of chronic disease in people who eat this diet. I'm talking about the olive.

You may have heard that olives are fattening. On the contrary, because they are high in fat doesn't make them fattening. I have evidence that olives have a host of beneficial properties. Eating olives lowers your cholesterol, your risk of heart disease and can help prevent cancer.

Today, you will learn about the often-misunderstood olive. And, how you can use them to enhance your cuisine and your health.

* Olive Oil – Good, Whole Olive –Even Better *

In recent years, the media have repeated the health benefits of olive oil. Olive oil is healthy but for most foods the more processing it goes through the fewer nutrients remain. With olives in particular, the protective flavonoids are mostly lost in the oil. Flavonoids act as natural antioxidants. Flavonoids also lower cholesterol, blood pressure, and risk of coronary disease. They also help heal sunburn.

Whole olives have a high proportion of essential amino acids also not present in the oil. Olives are high in vitamins E, K, and A. The vitamin E in olives prevents oxidative stress caused by things like pollution, sunlight and cigarette smoke. These environmental toxins expose your body to free radicals or unstable forms of oxygen. Vitamin E donates an electron to the free radicals and stabilizes them. This prevents them from damaging your cell membranes.

Green olives contain Vitamin K, which your body needs for proper bone formation, blood clotting and cancer prevention. Vitamin K comes from chlorophyll, commonly found in green leafy vegetables. The USDA named green olives as the second best source of this important vitamin.1

Common to both olives and olive oil are monounsaturated fats. These good fats lower LDL and raise HDL cholesterol levels. They also prevent the build-up of plaque on your artery walls. So rather than being fattening, olives promote good health in your body.2

A Harvard study showed that eating monounsaturated fat lowers the risk for heart disease. Specifically, they found that replacing 80 calories of carbohydrates with 80 calories of monounsaturated fats lowered the risk for heart disease by about 30 to 40 percent.3

* Turn Yourself into an Olive Aficionado *

One of the most enjoyable features of olives is their endless varieties. You can become an olive connoisseur much like wine tasting. Straight off the tree, olive taste bitter. The various curing processes give olives their varied and distinctive flavors.

You can categorize olives both by the region of the world in which they are grown and by their color. Harvesters pick green olives before they ripen. Olives that stay on the tree longer become black. You can easily find olives available in the United States from Italy, Spain, France, Greece and California.

One of my favorite things about olives is their ability to satiate hunger without consuming lots of food. The intensity of flavor in olives makes a little go a long way. What's more, olives are low in calories. One large California olive contains fewer then seven calories.

Many people stay away from olives because of their high salt content. For most people salt is not a health problem but you can reduce the saltiness by simmering them in water for five minutes. Or, you can choose less salty varieties, such as cerignolas or picholines.

Lately there have been olive bars opening up in stores across the country. These bars allow you to pick and choose different varieties. Perhaps by sampling some of these exotic olives you might acquire a taste for this real health food as I have.


Al Sears, M.D.

1. Waladkhani, A. R. and Clemens, M. R. Effect of dietary phytochemicals on cancer development (review). Int J Mol Med. 1998 Apr; 1(4):747-53.
2. John Stark, Olives, Body and Soul, April 2004
3. Harvard School of Public Health, Fats and Cholesterol, http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/fats.html