posted by PHILEOS EVOO on January 3, 2024
The backbone of the healthy “Mediterranean Diet,” extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO) is one of the world’s great foods, and one of the very few combining decadently delicious taste and flavour with well documented medical benefits. It has been proven to be heart-healthy and is very high in monosaturated fats and omega-3 and 6 fatty acids. In addition, it is high in antioxidants and many other potentially important health benefits have been tied anecdotally to EVOO, from anti-ageing to anti-carcinogenic to anti-inflammatory properties.
The American heart Association noted that “earlier this year, researchers reported in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology that people who ate more than half a tablespoon per day (Phileos suggests two a day of our healthy oil) had lower rates of premature death from cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease and other causes compared to people who never or rarely consumed olive oil. ‘Olive oil is the hallmark of the Mediterranean diet, and its link to lower mortality is well established in southern European countries. But this is the first long-term study to show such a health benefit in the United States. Similarly, a conference summary from the National Institute of Health noted that, “the use of olive oil as the nearly exclusive dietary fat is what mostly characterizes the Mediterranean area. Plenty of epidemiological studies have correlated that the consumption of olive oil was associated with better overall health.”
Not surprisingly, the highest levels of both taste and health come from the highest quality oils such as Phileos of Sparta. As we have been espousing for years. not all olive oils are created equal. For decades stories of olive oil fraud and mislabelling have regularly made the news, and we're all aware of these stories. In my next blog I will provide suggestions and concrete tips on how to shop better for extra-virgin olive oil.
The bad news is that the European olive harvest this year is one of the worst in recent memory, supplies are down, prices are way up, and anytime shortages and higher prices affect a food, fraud is almost certain to follow suit. But even without mislabelling, there is just less good olive oil to go around, and this can make finding high quality bottles difficult. The good news is that consumers will never have to worry about this when buying Phileos EVOO. We control the entire production process from branch to bottle until it gets into the hands of our loyal customers. Sure our olive oil volumes are down for 2023, but we produce enough of our Green Gold to satisfy our markets. This is the benefit of dealing directly with a "true real manufacturer."
Phileos artisanal growers guarantee one of the best olive oils for the markets we service. There is an excellent chance that the olive oil on grocer and specialty shelves are not going to be the quality of our olive oil. This current crisis has led to many producers and "private labels" who claim to be authentic to continue to squeeze out as much profit from the oil. This is undertaken by buying inferior quality oil, sourcing from lower quality oils of Mediterranean countries or belending it with virgin oil.
Olive Oil prices in the major Mediterraean producing countries of Greece, Spain and Italy have increased from 74% to a 131% respectively since 2021. An unbelievable spike in prices due to climate (drought, excessive rainfall) which has resulted in decreased supply.
Therefore, buy Phileos and you will never question its authenticity, source of origin and quality.