Advantages of extra virgin olive oil in health care and sports: How to improve general health, reduce health care budgets, and optimise athletes’ performance.

Extra virgin olive oil keeps us healthy and fit. An intake of three spoons a day reduces the chance of having a heart attack and of becoming obese. It improves cholesterol balance and protects against dementia. Research also shows that shifting to a Mediterranean diet reduces our ecological footprint. But what is extra virgin olive oil? What makes it different than 'olive oil'? Should it be 'cold pressed'? What oil should I buy? Time upon time again, you read the same questions and almost never you get the right answer straight away.This books author, Cecile van Berkum, spent almost ten years in the world of high quality extra virgin olive oil and its producers. She learned what to look for when buying good quality olive oil. She also learned there are not too many people who know exactly what is extra virgin. Even in Spain, where she lives and works and where most of the worlds olive oil is produced.Hundreds of scientific studies document the health effect of extra virgin olive oil. To benefit from these effects, it is essential to have objective knowledge about olive oil. If applied consistently, costs of health care can be reduced. In addition, athletes in endurance sports learn how extra virgin olive oil benefits their performance.This book brings together this information from various domains in a coherent framework. It includes direct links to the (scientific and governmental) sources to enable further study. From the tree to the bottle, from the doctor's to the nutritionist and the cook.