These are the best extra virgin olive oils for your health

The Evooleum Guide presents the 10 best EVOOs according to their amount of phenols And four of them are Spanish. The "Made in Spain" diet and olive oil reduce symptoms in patients with depression. These are the New health benefits of olive oil.
They say it's the liquid gold of our pantry, and science backs it up. Extra virgin olive oil is a valuable culinary product, but also an interesting tool for improving health.

Among the latest scientific evidence supporting this hypothesis is a Spanish study published in the prestigious journal "Nutrients," led by researchers from the University of Seville. The study focused on oleic acid, which makes up 70 to 80% of its composition and offers significant health benefits.

From a nutritional point of view, the benefits of olive oil They are numerous, as it is mainly composed of triglycerides (>99%) which are glycerol esters with three fatty acids. It also provides other substances of great interest such as fat soluble vitamins o Antioxidants in varying quantities depending on their industrial processing.

For this reason, it is considered a healthy fatIn fact, it has been shown to be the healthiest one there isFurthermore, all EVOO owe these properties to their composition of fatty acids and minor components.

How to choose the best extra virgin olive oil on the market?

To make it easier for you, the guide Evooleum includes in its latest edition A top 10 list of the healthiest extra virgin olives in the world thanks to an initiative in which they were pioneers: measure the total phenol content of all the winners in the latest edition of the Evooleum Prize in collaboration with the University of Cordoba (UCO).

Phenolic compounds are of exceptional nutritional interest due to their health benefits, recognized by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and reflected in European Directive 432/2012, which includes health claims associated with food consumption. To enjoy these health benefits, it is necessary to consume 20 grams of olive oil with a phenolic content of at least 250 ppm daily, or two tablespoons.

Four Spanish extra virgin olive oils

Mate Bianca Bellezza It is crowned – with over 1.237,5 ppm – as the healthiest EVOO in the world in this edition; it is followed by another juice from Istria, the San Antonio Mix San Antonio (1.203,3 ppm), and the transalpine monovarietal Coratina Don Gioacchino, from Azienda Agricola Sabino Leone, which reaches 900,3 ppm.

The Top 10 is completed by the last Croatian representative - also from Istria - Monte Rosso Grand Selection (888,4 ppm), from Monte Rosso doo; the italian Natyoure Bio Selezione Gold (832,3 ppm), by Frantoio Oleario Mossa Domenica; the jaenenses Gate of the Villas Picual Temprano Ecológico (752,1 pm), from SCA San Vicente de Mogón, and the Pradolivo Early Harvest (728,1 pm), from the company Oleoperales, SL; Guglielmi BIO IGP Olio di Puglia (701,3 ppm), from Guglielmi Saverio, Snc, which in the last edition occupied first place in this ranking; another picual from Jaén, Toral Payments Selección Gourmet (660,2 ppm), from Pagos de Toral, SCP, which boasts the high phenolic content of this variety; and, finally, Desert Gold Coupage (652,5 ppm), by Rafael Alonso Aguilera, SL, an ecological blend of picual, hojiblanca and arbequina born in the desert of Almería de Tabernas.

What factors determine the phenolic composition of olive oil?

All extra virgin olive oils have them to a greater or lesser extent, but certain characteristics make some top the list:

• Among the healthiest varieties are the Spanish Picual, the cornicabra and HojiblancaItalian Coratina and Leccino; and Croatian white wine
• The altitude above sea level of the plantations, evidenced by the fact that several award-winning EVOOs in recent editions come from mountain or hill olive groves
• The type of plantationBetween dryland and irrigated land, the former rent higher levels
• El Production systemwhere the following stands out organicThree of the top 10 oils are organic.
• The care put into the production process

Why is liquid gold so healthy?

To make this selection, the technical team of the Evooleum Awards, in collaboration with the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Córdoba, analyzed the concentration of phenolic compounds in the top 100, reaching a clear conclusion: all of them are beneficial to health due to their high content of monounsaturated fatty acids—which prevent, for example, the development of… cardiovascular diseases-, since the media It practically doubles the minimum of phenols established by the EFSA.

Phenolic compounds are indirectly related to the quality of extra virgin olive oilOn the one hand, phenols contribute to the organoleptic properties of EVOO through attributes such as hot spicy and bitterness, among other positive factors, never negative. On the other hand, due to its antioxidant natureThey protect the juice itself from long-term deterioration.

Extra virgin olive oil has the most favorable composition. According to the PREDIMED study, the recommended intake is about four tablespoons a day. In particular, Raw extra virgin olive oil retains all its beneficial properties, since culinary processing can alter them. Above 180º, it begins to "smoke", which indicates the appearance of acrolein and free radicals.