6 Health Benefits of Olive Oil for Diabetes Patients

Choosing a suitable cooking oil for those who suffer from diabetes can be difficult. You need to maintain a healthy weight to keep your blood sugar level under control and thus manage your condition. This is why many prefer olive oil, for health benefits of this oil are endless.

While other high-fat oils can increase your blood sugar and weight gain, olive oil helps you to manage diabetes through a healthy diet. A staple of the Mediterranean diet, olive oil has fast become a strong part of the daily diet of people worldwide. The numerous olive oil health benefits and uses have led to this revolution. It is equally beneficial in managing weight, keeping your heart healthy, reducing inflammation and keeping many diseases, including cancers, at bay, as much as it helps control diabetes. This article explores the reasons why it is so effective in diabetes, so if you or someone in your family suffers from this condition, continue reading.

Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil Any Good for Diabetes

There are many health benefits of olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil, over other fat sources such as butter, cream, other vegetable oils, fatty meats etc., which contain saturated fats. These advantages can be evidently seen in your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, deposition of fat in the liver and how glucose is metabolised in the muscle tissue. Olive oil consists of powerful antioxidants called polyphenols which lead to many health-positive effects in your body, including good control of blood sugar rise post meals. In addition to this, it also contains many bioactive compounds which further contribute to enhancing your health. So, yes. Olive oil is highly beneficial for diabetes.

Olive Oil Health Benefits for Diabetes

Here is an overview of the numerous olive oil for health benefits which you can reap if you are struggling with type 2 diabetes.

• It minimises LDL or Low-Density Lipoprotein, which is bad cholesterol, and increases High-Density Lipoprotein or HDL, which is good cholesterol. Monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fatty acids are considered to be healthy fats which can help you maintain normal levels of cholesterol in the blood.
• High sugar levels put excessive oxidative stress on the cells, which can lead to various health issues such as hypertension, inflammation and increased insulin resistance. Olive oil contains many antioxidants such as Vitamin E, which helps in combating this oxidative stress and reduce inflammation which further helps in lowering the risk of many other diabetes-related complications.
• Olive oil prevents sudden glucose spikes in your blood which is commonly seen occurring with diabetes.
• Olive oil has anti-inflammatory properties and is also a highly rich source of polyphenols, omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. All of these work to decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases. Polyphenols help to regulate blood sugar levels in your body by lowering glucose and cholesterol levels. They also help to reduce the oxidative stress of blood lipids.
• Considerable amounts of glucagon are also found in olive oil, such as peptide-1(GLP-1), in addition to glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptides too, which are known to promote the formation of insulin.
• Olive oil is also a potent source of healthy fats, which helps you to regulate your weight. Plus, the MUFA or the monounsaturated fatty acids present in the oil can also help you to reduce belly fat which in turn prevents insulin resistance in a diabetic person.

How to Use Olive Oil for Cooking Benefits

Extra virgin and virgin olive oils are the purest and the finest olive oils, and so also the most expensive. They are obtained by extracting oil from olives through the mechanical pressing of the fruits. This oil is slightly bitt, greenish-gold and has a strong flavour and odour. They are packed with nutrients and therefore make the best candidates for obtaining all the health benefits of olive oil. However, since they have very low smoke points, they can easily get burnt and lose all their nutrients. Hence, the right way of consuming them is in their raw form; drizzle them on cooked dishes, use them as dipping oils for bread or use them in salad dressing. Pouring a teaspoonful of extra virgin olive oil on your salad or regular cooked food is the best olive oil use for diabetic patients.

That said, this may not always work for you since Indian food is usually well-cooked and always served hot. So, if you are cooking food and want to pick olive oil, use only pomace olive oil or extra light olive. These oils do well at high temperatures as they have high smoke points and so do not burn easily. They are also flavourless and odourless, so do not alter the taste of your food either. This means you can easily use them to prepare Indian dishes as well without the fear of them not being compatible with the cuisine. And since they only add good fats and moisture to the dish and not the pungent flavour which their virgin counterparts carry.

Conclusion

Olive oil is an excellent edible oil which you must surely use if you are struggling with diabetes. It can lower blood sugar levels and decrease the risk of various cardiovascular disorders. It can also lower insulin resistance in your body and prevent the chances of developing other diabetes-related complications. Hence, it cannot be stressed enough how you must make this miraculous oil a part of your daily diet to get all the olive oil for health benefits, especially if you have diabetes.