Disadvantages of Olive Oil

Mar 2
08:16

2012

Laura Ng

Laura Ng

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All along you've been told about how olive oil benefits your health this and that. But did it ever come across to you that olive oil can actually harm your health instead? I'm going to reveal its disadvantages so that you can take precautionary measures to make sure you're only reaping its benefits and not the side effects.

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The typical Mediterranean diet includes olive oil as an important ingredient. This is because olive oil promotes health. However,Disadvantages of Olive Oil Articles it can damage your health too if you use it improperly. Let me show you.

Disadvantage #1 - Olive Oil Impedes Blood Flow

All saturated and unsaturated fatty acids (except for omega-3 fatty acid in flaxseed and medium-chain fatty acid in coconut oil) may increase blood stickiness due to clumping of platelets, which in turn causes blood clotting that may hamper your blood circulation.

Olive oil carries about 77% of oleic fatty acid, which belongs to monounsaturated fat that promotes blood clotting. Shocked to learn about this disadvantage of olive oil, huh?

But fortunately, we have the anti-inflammatory compounds in the oil such as omega-3, oleocanthal and hydroxytyrosol to counteract the inflammation and overcome the disadvantage posed by the oleic fatty acid. But that's only provided you take extra-virgin olive oil, which is unrefined and thus contains the greatest amount of these inflammatory compounds.

In other words, the more refined an olive oil is, the lesser the inflammatory compounds remain in the contents. And the higher your health risk will be.

Disadvantage #2 - Olive Oil Reacts with Free Radicals

As mentioned earlier, olive oil carries about 77% monounsaturated fat. The chemical structure of a monounsaturated fat goes like this - it contains one unstable C=C component (double bond between 2 carbon atoms) in each chain.

In chemistry, a double bond between two atoms does not mean that the link or connection is strong. In contrast, double bond shows that the link is vulnerable to the attacks by free radicals. And when free radicals do attack, the oil may turn into a hydrogenated oil, which carries trans fats that are detrimental to our health.

For that reason, we should always keep olive oil away from heat, light and air.

Tip: Eat the oil in its raw, natural form and you'll reap its full benefits without risking your health. But if you want to cook your food, use coconut oil instead which bear stable fatty acid structure (containing a single bond between 2 carbon atoms) that won't break down so easily upon heating or exposure to light or air.

Disadvantage #3 - Olive Oil is Fattening

There's no concrete evidence to prove that olive oil promotes weight loss. Whatever deductions that have been made about it in researches and studies so far are all hypothetical.

However, I've seen people who take olive oil grow fatter and fatter day by day. I mean, if it promotes weight loss, why are they expanding sideways?

After all, olive oil is still a fat and carries 9 Calories per gram. It does not behave like coconut oil that can really help you boost metabolism and burn fat. So, if you overeat olive oil, your body fat level will definitely rise.