cooking with olive oil

Michael Mosley discovers that enjoying more olive oil in your daily diet can come with a whole host of surprising benefits, including protecting your brain, improving your memory and reducing chronic inflammation. The Mediterranean diet has been shown to be one of the healthiest in the world, and a major component of this is olive oil. Dr Bill Mullen from the University of Glasgow tells Michael about his recent research, which found that two tablespoons of olive oil a day can significantly reduce biological markers of heart disease. Meanwhile our volunteer Ellen, an avid home cook, reaps the benefits of switching to olive oil. Series Producer: Nija Dalal-Small Editor: Zoë Heron A BBC Studios production for BBC Sounds / BBC Radio 4.

Over the years you’ll have heard me talking about the Mediterranean way of eating and extra virgin olive oil quite frequently and today on the show I’m delighted to be joined by an expert in all things to do with olive oil and the history of a Mediterranean in general, Dr Simon Poole.

Everything you need to know about olive oil is in today's episode. It’s origins, it’s therapeutic uses, its impact on heart and brain health. Its potential anti-cancer and weight maintenance effects. The alchemy of olive oil and food. 

Today’s podcast was absolutely fascinating .. for me! I learnt so much from Dr Poole who is a Cambridge based GP and is an internationally renowned authority on the science and application of the Mediterranean Diet and lifestyle. He is co-author of the Gourmand Prize winning book The Olive Oil Diet and speaks regularly on the subject of communication and change management in population and individual nutritional health.

We talked about the following:

• What the origins of olive oil are
• How the oil is produced
• It’s regenerative impact on soil and climate health
• Diocles of Carystus and Hippocrates and olive oil
• The types of phenols in olive oil
• Olive and heart health
• Alzeihmers and Weight loss with olive oil
• Grading olive oil and what to look for
• The smoking point of olive oil

Check out The Doctor's Kitchen website for full show notes on this and all other episodes

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