Defending Olive Oil

I recently had a patient ask me if cooking with olive oil was bad. Honestly, I cook with olive oil or butter and never really thought about the subject. Mono unsaturated fats, such as Canola oil, can when heated at high temperatures produce oxidized serum lipids which are not heart healthy. Olive oil is a naturally occurring mono unsaturated oil so does it react the same way?
Mark Sisson of Mark's Daily Apple defends the Mediterranean staple with his usual detail.

In one study, the authors heated various oils to “deep-frying conditions” and checked oxidative markers every three hours. The olive oils made it 24-27 hours of constant high heating before reaching the maximum legal value of heat damage. Not bad, and it’s not like you’re going to use your olive oil to deep fry anyway

I am guilty of leaving the Olive oil near the stove exposed to not only the kitchen light but also the heat from the stove.

Dr. David Marcon
Marcon Chiropractic & Wellness Center
Cincinnati, Ohio 45255
drdavidmarcon.com

The Definitive List on Edible Oils

I was talking to my lovely wife the other day about this Grapeseed oil she had purchased. I was raised on Extra Virgin Olive (Granda Orlandi bought it in a can that looked like the kind that contains paint thinner) we don't need another oil in the House! Well, it seems a friend of a friend went to a cooking class at Williams Sonoma where they learned that Grapeseed oil has a higher heating tolerance than Olive Oil thus making it a better choice when cooking. I don't like to take anyones recommendation on what foods are safe until I do a little investigating. Now I make no bones about the fact that I work smarter not harder, so I checked with one of the better Nutrition Blogs Mark's Daily Apple , which should be added to your favorites if it already isn't. Mark's okay with the Grapeseed oil but as you will see when you check out the link, it's not a must have product. It seems that ancient Romans used the oil from the grape and thus benefited from the properties of resveratrol. The big drawback is that it takes quite a bit of grape to get a little oil, another words it's expensive. I ate the Grapeseed cooked Poultry and I did like the sweeter taste along with the reduced mess afterward (higher flash point means less stuck on the griddle). And I can see myself using the rest of the bottle (this stuff ain't cheap) but I don't think Grapeseed oil will be on the shopping list in the future.
Check out Mark's Daily Apple for the definitive oil list!

Work Smarter Not Harder!
Dr. David Marcon
Cincinnati, Ohio
drdavidmarcon.com