Olive Oil

Olive trees have been cultivated for thousands of years, but the immune and circulatory benefits of Olive Leaf have only recently become fully realized. Olea europaea is a small, ever green tree, averaging 20 feet or more in height. The tree is native to Asia Minor and Syria, but is cultivated in several Mediterranean countries, Chile, Peru, and South Australia. The high position held by the Olive tree in ancient days may be realized when it is remembered that Moses exempted from military service men who would work at its cultivation, and that Olive oil is mentioned as a symbol of goodness & purity in both Scriptural and classical writings, and the tree has represented peace and happiness. The oil, in addition to its wide use in diet, was burnt in the sacred lamps of temples, while the victor in the Olympic games was crowned with its leaves. In the 1850's, medical reports described how Olive Leaves cured the worst cases of malaria. An 1854 account in the Pharmaceutical Journal provided the following simple healing recipe: "A handful of leaves boiled in a quart of water down to half its original volume. A wine glassful was then administered until the fever was cured." The author believed that a bitter substance in the leaves was the key healing ingredient. This method was said to be extremely popular in England to treat sick returnees from the tropical colonies. In 1962, a scientific paper written by an Italian researcher reported that the chemical constituent "oleuropein" had the ability to lower blood pressure in animals. Other European researchers confirmed this finding and found also that it could increase blood flow in the coronary arteries, relieve arrhythmias and prevent intestinal muscle spasms. About the same time, other investigators were searching for the chemical agent within oleuropein that might be the most medically potent. A Dutch researcher found it - elenolic acid. What's more, the Europeans found it had a powerful anti-bacterial effect. In the late 1960's, research by scientists at a major American pharmaceutical company showed that elenolic acid also inhibited the growth of viruses. In fact, it stopped every virus that it was tested against. A number of in vitro (test tube) laboratory experiments with calcium elenolate, a salt of elenolic acid, demonstrated a killer effect against many viruses, bacteria and parasitic protozoans. Among other effects, the compound was found to be potent against a variety of viruses associated with the common cold.

Olive Oil