Extra virgin olive oil in children’s nutrition, from weaning to snack time. I&P interviews nutritionist Angela Zoccali

We are certain of the wide beneficial properties of extra virgin olive oil, but is this food also good in the early stages of human nutrition?
We asked nutritionist Angela Zoccali, who last month told us about the elixir of long life.

From my point of view the main nutritional benefits are 3:

1. It contains natural anti-tumor molecules and antioxidants such as oleocanthal and oleic acid, as confirmed by the recent study of the University of Oxford, 2018 (Extra-virgin olive oil contains a metabolo-epigenetic inhibitor of cancer stem cells).
2. It regulates blood pressure and reduces blood cholesterol levels with its hydroxytyrosol content.
3. It promotes fertility and fights polycystic ovary syndrome thanks to the presence of vitamin E and monounsaturated fatty acids, as well as chlorophylls.

It is a real mine, which we still underestimate, made up of around 300 substances.

As parents we want the best for our children, and the best is to make sure they grow up healthy, with habits that maintain it. Extra virgin olive oil is one of these. We were born in the country that produces a large quantity and excellent quality, let’s use it as our parents and grandparents did.

During weaning, add it raw to soups, it will help the child to assimilate fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K), it will provide antioxidant and free radical-fighting elements, the phenolic compounds that are so much talked about today, not present in other vegetable oils because they are extracted from seeds and not from a fruit like extra virgin olive oil.
Considering the composition similar to breast milk, we will avoid the deficiency of omega 3, lacking in cow’s milk and essential in the composition of the structure of cells and their membranes, in the functionality of the brain, in the structuring of the retina.
The introduction of extra virgin olive oil into the diet, at weaning and until the child begins to introduce fish (preferably blue fish), is the only source that, in addition to providing a good caloric intake, brings a certain amount of omega 3 to the rapidly evolving organism.
Its use is also recommended for skin care. In infants, conditions such as cradle cap (seborrheic dermatitis), dermatitis in the diaper area benefit from the use of extra virgin olive oil which, containing squalene, a substance very similar to sebum, has a high cleansing power and lubricates the scalp. Application with a cotton ball allows the subsequent removal of crusts. Grandmothers used “oil beaten in water” as a treatment for redness in the diaper area, an old method but still valid.

Let’s go back to the snack with bread and oil: it has all the necessary characteristics of a balanced and healthy meal. Let’s get our children used to eating raw or steamed vegetables with a drizzle of oil. Let’s take advantage of its properties as an intestinal regulator and liver activity. Excellent in correcting constipation with its laxative action, more effective on an empty stomach.

Kids really like french fries, let’s not overdo it and please them. It is better to fry them in extra virgin olive oil, because of its peculiarity of resisting up to 220°, keeping its characteristics unchanged, without producing toxic polymers.

In my slimming diets, and in the personalized nutritional plans that I develop, I allow the use of EVO oil every day, raw, in free quantities, without measuring it with a dropper or a spoon.

Thanking once again Dr. Zoccali for her valuable contribution, we greet our readers by inviting them to follow our social pages to stay updated on the I&P world.