Nutrition Frenzy

Olive oil — the unsaturated fat that’s great for your heart — is making headlines again. But this time it’s for helping something a little lower down: your stomach.

Research suggests that polyphenols in olive oil may inhibit the bacterium that causes most stomach ulcers.

Heard of H. Pylori?
Antibiotics are the treatment gold standard for Helicobacter (H.) pylori, the ulcer-causing bacterium that’s tough enough to survive the acidity of people’s stomachs. But resistant strains of H. pylori are now found worldwide. Fortunately, some researchers are seeking alternative therapies, and in recent studies, the polyphenols in olive oil showed tremendous potential. Not only could they withstand the harsh gastric juices of the stomach, but they also seemed to kill off H. pylori pretty handily — even antibiotic-resistant strains.

Olive Oil Power Boosters
To protect the polyphenols in your olive oil and get the most out of the stuff, store it in a dark bottle away from sunlight, and don’t overheat it.

Get More from Your Olive Oil
No doubt about it. Olive oil has a rep as one of the healthiest fats on the planet. Why? It’s full of monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, good fats that increase healthy HDL cholesterol –HDL helps clean out your arteries as it moves through them.

But that’s not all olive oil does. Using it on food may be as good for you as kicking a smoking habit. See, microscopic substances in urine reveal how well your body is defending itself against everyday cancer-causing cell damage. Think of cell-damagers as shrapnel: too much means your body is taking some serious hits. But in studies, men who eat more olive oil have less shrapnel. In fact, the drop is similar to what smokers get when they quit.

There’s nothing easier than drizzling olive oil over veggies or using it as a dip for bread. (Don’t go crazy, though; even good fats need to be served with a light hand.) But when you’re cooking with olive oil, be careful not to overheat it, which is easy to do because it has a relatively low “smoking point.” That’s when it starts to burn, which kills the benefits and ruins the flavor, shifting it from rich and slightly fruity to something more like burnt charcoal. Personally, we don’t cook with the best stuff (extra-virgin olive oil), because it starts to burn so fast, at about 320 degrees Fahrenheit. But virgin olive oil can be heated to about 400 degrees before its goodies start going up in smoke. Or try this trick: Instead of heating olive oil in the pan, just spritz some on veggies, fish, or taters before cooking them.