Something interesting about Olive Oil

I was thinking about the barrage of products on the market today that are aimed at lowering cholesterol when I remembered a recent article in Science Daily about how Olive Oil works.
It occurred to me that the more research we do the more we discover the benefits of the natural foods that have been used for thousands of years.
This article in Science Daily (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/04/090401200447.htm) describes how researchers in Porto have discovered how a particular component of Olive Oil gives protection against Heart Attack and Stroke.
Other research has demonstrated the cholesterol lowering effects of Olive Oil (http://www.ajcn.org/content/47/6/960.abstract), how olive oil helps prevent DNA damage http://www.kitchentablemedicine.com/olive-oil-new-research-shows-it-prevents-dna-damage/), the impact of olive oil on cancer and ageing (http://www.streetdirectory.com/food_editorials/health_food/fruits/three_recent_studies_olive_oils_impact_on_cancer_and_aging.html), how Olive Oil helps prevent stroke (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-13782797) and the list goes on.
Of course, the inhabitants of Southern Europe have known for thousands of years that Olive Oil is good for you and have consistently had long life spans and lower incidence of heart attack, cancer and stroke than average. This has been put down to the "Mediterranean Diet". Scientists are now only beginning to realise the importance of Olive Oil in this diet.
It is probably fair to say (as is often the case) that this time, the primitive peoples of Southern Europe were the pioneers of healthy food and Scientists are only now starting to catch up.
So the next time you look for something healthy to supplement your diet, perhaps you should look no further than Extra Virgin Olive Oil (preferably Organic), it has only been around for a few thousand years.