• Experts recommend a daily intake of about 40 milliliters (37 grams) of olive oil per day to achieve all the beneficial effects of this food.
• The European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) recommends a minimum consumption of 20 grams per day to benefit from the health effects of polyphenols contained in extra virgin olive oil.
Madrid, October 14, 2013. Olive oils, like other oils, generate a contribution of 9 calories per gram ingested. Until then, nothing differentiates olive oils from others.
But we all know that it is not just another oil. The European Union itself has recognized that the consumption of oleic acid, vitamin E and polyphenols contained in olive oils have beneficial effects on health (Regulation 432/2012 of 16 May 2012 on authorized health claims of food other than reducing the risk of disease and the development and health of children). Moreover, as regards polyphenols ("contribute to the protection of blood lipids against oxidative damage") the standard establishes a recommended intake to be able to talk about the beneficial effect of 20 grams of those virgin olive oils that contain a minimum of 5 milligrams of antioxidants in that proportion of oil.
There will be those who feel tempted to think that the more they consume, the greater will be the benefits for our health. Science tells us that this is only half true. So unadvisable is a diet without oils as another in which its consumption is excessive.
Like everything in life, it's a matter of balance. Olive oils, of course, but never in excess. So we return to the question of the principle, how much is reasonable? Science gives us a hand in this matter. More specifically the researchers working in the PREDIMED Study (Effects of the Mediterranean diet in the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease). For years, thousands of participants in this study took a controlled Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oils, "we advised these people to drink about 50 milliliters a day, about 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil a day. Although, over time, we found that they took about 40 milliliters a day (about 37 grams), "confirms Ramón Estruch, coordinator of the Study.
Over time it has been proven that these people "have less risk of diabetes; your blood pressure is lower; they present less depression and, above all, they have less risk of cardiovascular disease ".
In addition, the study has found other evidence: "From what we have seen so far, people who have made a Mediterranean diet with extra virgin olive oil, despite taking more calories than people in the control group (with a diet low in fat) have not gained weight. On the contrary we have verified a tendency to lower the weight and the perimeter of the waist. Therefore there is no fear of adding olive oils to the diet because it is a fat. "