Extra Virgin Olive Oil is among the most healthiest natural oils- Suzy Cohen

I believe extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is among the most healthiest natural oils you can consume. There are so many benefits of EVOO. It has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer and of stroke. I don't recommend the use of vegetable oil, rapeseed oil, canola oil or even organic canola oil. I do recommend olive oil, grape seed, avocado, tea seed and pumpkin seed oil. I am also a fan of good quality butter. 

When it comes to buying EVOO though you do have to be a wise shopper because it is hard to find real, 100% EVOO. See my article on this subject here.

Buying pure EVOO is especially important if you are trying to follow a Mediterranean diet because much of the benefits of the Mediterranean diet is from the EVOO.

To find out more about the benefits of EVOO see this exerpt from Suzy Cohen's article:

Olive Oil Reduces Cancer and Risk of Stroke

Olives are something I’m fanatic about. I’ll eat any kind, any flavor, and time of day or night! I’m obsessed with them.

Olive oil is the liquid fat which comes from the olive tree. It is extremely high in oleic acid, which is known to reduce blood pressure. It also contains a good amount of natural vitamin E, carotenoids and oleuropein. That compound has strong anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects.

Olives are fruits, and both the fruit and the oil have medicinal benefits. The main active ingredient in olive oil is oleic acid, some phenols and squalene.


Extra virgin olive oil or EVOO is sometimes referred to as cold-pressed. This type of oil is higher quality, better flavor and lower acidity than plain olive oil. When you see “extra virgin” on the label, that means something good. It means that the oil was mechanically pressed out of the olives, as opposed to using a bunch of chemicals to extract it. When the oil is squeezed and pressed from the olives mechanically, the vitamins, amino acids and fatty acids are not destroyed.


As far as the phenols go, the main ones are hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein. I give you their names so you can look up all the medical(TM) research at pubmed, and see all the incredible studies that prove pharmacological value when it comes to activities. These include:

To find out what studies have shown about the links to improved health and longevity see the rest of the article here.  What I really like about EVOO is it's link to reducing the risk of cancer and stroke. 

To Your Health

Dr. Barbara (TM)

Celiacbrain.blogspot.com (TM)

Celiac Disease Increases Cardiovascular Disease Risk- World Journal of Cardiology

A few years back I heard Dr. Houston, cardiologist say that 50% of heart 

attacks are from eating gluten in someone who is an untreated person with celiac disease, that is they are celiac (CD) and were not eating a gluten free diet either because they were undiagnosed or they were not serious about the treatment for CD which is a gluten free diet.

This figure shocked me at the time. Not now.

The August 2017 issue of World Journal of Cardiology published a review article worth reading, entitled Cardiovascular involvement in celiac disease. This review article delves into current research and knowledge about untreated celiac disease and its systemic effects on the heart and circulatory system. Read carefully: untreated celiac disease.   Gluten free diet did show in many studies to improve the condition. 

Celiac disease is a public health issue and more people need to be screened and diagnosed. If for every celiac diagnosed there are 13 to 31 people not diagnosed according to research on the incidence, then there are a lot of people with undiagnosed CD.

Here is an excerpt from a review of that paper by Linda J. Dobberstein, Chiropractor in the news letter Wellness Resources.   Bold is mine,

"Since 2000, increasing evidence points to several common cardiovascular diseases related to gluten intolerance and celiac disease. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that affects millions of Americans, with many of whom are undiagnosed. There is, however, more to celiac disease than gastrointestinal symptoms.

Celiac disease is due to the immune system attacking the intestinal tract after gluten is consumed. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, rye, and barley. Classic celiac disease symptoms include diarrhea, bloating, gas, heartburn, indigestion, cramping, nausea, vomiting, fatigue, anemia, and weight loss.

Several cardiovascular disorders have been linked or found to be higher in individuals with untreated celiac disease. These disorders include cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, arrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, heart attacks, atherosclerosis, POTS, and several other cardiovascular disorders. Evidence shows that these cardiac disorders are more common in individuals with celiac disease than those without the disorder...........Here is a brief synopsis on this topic".

She goes onto summarizing the original review. Get the gist of the topic which demonstrates there are dozens of variations of cardiovascular and stroke risks associated with CD and eating gluten. And it affects all age groups including children.

Good news is that the gluten free diet has been shown to improve the conditions when it was studied. 

If you are not sure if you are celiac or gluten sensitive get tested. 

50% of people with celiac disease don't have GI or gastrointestinal problems, but have problems in other parts of the body including mental health issues. 

Be safe rather than sorry and get tested. 

To Your Health

Dr. Barbara (TM)

Celiacbrain.blogspot.com (TM)

Sunlight Boosts Nitric Oxide Production, Lowers Risk of Heart disease, Stroke

Sunbathers

Skin exposure to sunshine boosts nitric oxide production and that is a good thing. And researchers have found that the  nitric oxide levels were independent of vitamin D levels. Sunlight triggers healthy metabolism that can reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

But many people are worried that they will get melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer, if they should get sun exposure without a sun screen. Sun exposure reduces the risk of many conditions and studies show the benefits of sun exposure outweighs the risks. In regards to dying from skin cancer, studies show your risk is 80 times lower on average than your risk of dying from a heart attack or stroke. So it makes sense to work at  lowering your risk for heart attacks and strokes, with getting some sun exposure. 

A recent study by Dr. Weller et al, has some very important conclusions. We need sun exposure as well as good vitamin D blood levels, from sun and from dietary sources to be well. 

Dr. Weller ,lead researcher is quoted as saying:

"We suspect that the benefits to heart health of sunlight will outweigh the risk of skin cancer. The work we have done provides a mechanism that might account for this, and also explains why dietary vitamin D supplements alone will not be able to compensate for lack of sunlight."

I recommend, unless you conciously fit in time for sun exposure that can be proven to give you a vitamin D level above 120 nmol/l, than get as much sun as possible and take a good quality supplement of Vitamin D3, followed with regular blood tests to verify you are getting enough.

There is more here on how to normalize borderline or high blood pressure, the importance of vitamin D, the real incidence of melanoma and the dangerous effects of fructose on the body.

To Your Health
Dr. Barbara

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UVA lowers blood pressure and vasodilates the systemic arterial vasculature by mobilisation of cutaneous nitric oxide stores

D Liu,¹ BO Fernandez,³ NN Lang,² JM Gallagher,⁴ DE Newby,² M Feelisch³ and RB Weller^1,5 1Dermatology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom,²Cardiology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom, ³Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom, ⁴Leithmount Surgery, Edinburgh, United Kingdom and ⁵Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom

The incidence of hypertension and cardiovascular disease (CVD) correlates with latitude and rises in winter. Population vitamin D levels inversely correlate with CVD, but oral supplementation does not alter CVD rates. Skin contains large stores of nitrite(NO₂) and nitrate(NO₃). Nitrate is biologically inert, but can be photo-reduced to active NO₂ and nitric oxide (NO). The dermal vasculature enables rapid systemic dispersal of NO₂ and NO.We hypothesised that ultraviolet A (UVA) mobilises NO bioactivity from skin to circulation to exert beneficial cardiovascular effects. Vit’ D is a marker for sunlight exposure. 24 healthy volunteers were sham (temp’ control) irradiated then actively irradiated with 20 J/cm² UVA. Mean arterial pressure (MAP) fell and heart rate rose during active but not sham irrad’n (3.50±0.73 mmHg vs 2.80±0.98). The MAP fall was sustained for 50 mins in the active group only. Temperature rise was the same in both groups. Circulatory nitrite rose (0.50±0.04 μM to 0.72±0.04 μM p<0.001) and nitrate fell (11.79± 0.64 μM to 8.99±0.40 μM (p<0.001)) during active, but not sham irradiation. There was no change in circulating vitamin D levels. 12 volunteers had forearm blood flow (FBF) measured by venous plethysmography while 8 μmol/min of the NOS antagonist L-NMMA was infused to the brachial artery. FBF rose during active but not sham irradiation (23.7±6.5 % over baseline vs no change p<.0002). Physiological levels of UVA irradiation cause systemic vasodilation and lower BP in a vitamin D and NOS independent manner. Deaths from CVD and stroke are 60 to 100 times higher than from skin cancers in northern Europe. This study provides a mechanistic explanation for the inverse correlation between sunlight exposure and CVD mortality. Sunlight has beneficial effects independently of vitamin D synthesis.