What are actually in the olive oil?

Olive oil is a triglyceride which is made up of three fatty acids and attached to a glycerol backbone.

Fatty acids in the olive oil actually are the carboxylic acid with the long hydrocarbon chain.The general formula of the fatty acid is:CH3(CH2)nCOOH .Studies have shown that a person who consume olive oil every day, the risk to get heart disease can be reduced .Why is say so?
Due to the reason of the fatty acids in the olive oil is made up of oleic acid which is a monounsaturated fats.Monounsaturated fats are fatty acids that have only one sigle double bond in the fatty acid chain.There are about 55%-85% of olive oil is made of oleic acid where the general formula is CH3(CH2)7CH=CH(CH2)7COOH


oleic acid
The olive oil also contained of other fatty acids which are linoleic and linolenic .Both of these two fatty acids are the polyunsaturated fats. Polyunsaturated fats are the fatty acids that have more than one double bond exist int the fatty acid chain. There are about 9% of the linoleic and less than 1.5% of linolenic in the olive oil.







Linoleic


Olive oil has no trans fatty acids. Trans fatty acids are just like the saturated fats in the body.They raise the LDL(low density lipoprotein )level which are called "bad cholesterol" because they will cause the heart disease and stroke.Omega-3 fats and omega-6 fats are polyunsaturated fats which can be found in the olive oil. There are 3 main omega-3 fats:ALA,EPA and DHA.The chemical structure of the DHA and EPA are shown as the below:






Omega-3 fats and omega-6 fats have many benefits for our body such as help to lower the blood pressure,maintain the heart rhythm beating normally ,the blood vessel elastisicity can be also improved and so forth.

Apart from that, olive oil also rich in antioxidant.Antioxidant is a subtance that slow the rate of oxidation reaction. There are many benefits of the antioxidants which are: the blood pressure can be reduced ,assist to fight of free radicals because the free radicals will damage our cells and also speed up the aging process and others.The variety of the olive oil can be found which include extra virgin,virgin,pure and light. What are the difference between them?

Extra virgin-this oil is the top grade of olive oil and is produced from the first ‘pressing’ of good-quality olives. This oil is extracted by a traditional cold-pressing method, where there are no chemicals .Small amount of heat is used.

Virgin-this oil is made from the second pressing of olive and also extracted bt cold-pressing method.There are no chemicals involved and a little of heat is applied.

Pure-this oil is non-virgin olive oil. This type of olive oil actually consist of the inferior oil which is left after the virgin oil has been removed from lower-quality olives. After that, this oil is refined by using the heat,chemical solvents and the filtration treatments.Lastly, this oil is mixed with the virgin oil to restore its flavoring and colour.

Light-This type of oil is made from the last pressing of olives.Its quality is lower than others.

Olive oil Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 890 kcal 3700 kJ
Carbohydrates 0 g
Fat 100 g
- saturated 14 g
- monounsaturated 73 g
- polyunsaturated 11 g
- omega-3 fat <1.5>
- omega-6 fat 3.5-21 g
Protein 0 g
Vitamin E 14 mg 93%
Vitamin K 62 μg 59%
100 g olive oil is 109 mlPercentages are relative to US recommendations for adults.

"Two table spoons of oilve oil keep the doctors away"