Extra Virgin Olive Oil Eases Pain

Is it weird that extra virgin olive oil relieves pain in the same way that ibuprofen does? Then it’s even more weird that the molecular structure of the active ingredients in olive oil look nothing like the structure of active ingredients in ibuprofen. Geezer can’t explain it, but then, he doesn’t have to. Readers who want an explanation should go to the journal Nature, which tells us that researchers at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia have detemined that a daily dose of 50 grams, or 4 tablespoons,
of olive oil confers the equivalent of around 10% of the recommended
ibuprofen dose for adult pain relief. The same researchers, the story reports, are persuaded that the active ingredient in the oil is oleocanthal, which, like ibuprofen, stifles components of a pain pathway called the prostaglandin system.
What does  that mean for us? The research does not argue that we should take an immediate pass on ibuprofen and stock up on extra virgin olive oil, but it does point out the ibuprofen can, over time, damage kidneys and the digestive system. Olive oil, on the hand, may just make you fat. No contest. Geezer votes for the oil. And the wine. And the rest of the Mediterranean life style. Read more.