IAN & SPAIN

Olive oil plays a key role in foetal development during pregnancy and a shortage may have pernicious effects on the baby's subsequent development.

It has been demonstrated that the post-natal development of babies of mothers who consumed olive oil when pregnant is better in terms of height, weight, behaviour and psychomotor reflexes.
The foetus needs vitamin E to grow. The newborn baby also needs a store of vitamin E to fight against the oxidative stress caused on entering an oxygen atmosphere. Although not very abundant in olive oil, it is present in sufficient quantity thanks to the resistance of olive oil to oxidation.

So, both the amount and the type of food consumed in the diet during pregnancy play a key part in the metabolic adaptations that occur in the mother and in her functional relationship with the foetus.

During labour, the vitamin E in the mother's blood is concentrated in the breast glands and so, during breast feeding, the mother continues to supply vitamin E. It is essential to maintain the levels of this vitamin during breast feeding.

Vitamin E is also recommended for premature and new-born infants with kidney or pancreas failure because of the favourable effect it has on the hepato-biliary system.

But olive oil not only provides enough essential fatty acids for the development of the new-born child; its ratio of linoleic acid to linolenic acid (essential fatty acids) is similar to that of breast milk.

The beneficial effect of oleic acid lasts beyond pregnancy. Besides its documented effectiveness in preventing hypercholesterolaemia and atherosclerosis, which is a process that can begin in childhood, oleic acid also appears to exert a positive influence on growth and bone mineralisation and development during infancy.

During pregnancy and breast feeding it is advisable to consume more fat, primarily monounsaturated fat, while reducing saturated fat and cholesterol as far as possible. General dietary guidelines should be followed and calorie intake should be controlled to avoid excessive weight gain.

Under-three-year-olds have different dietary requirements to children over this age. Forty per cent of the energy they consume comes from fat, whether it be in breast milk or any other kind of milk. It is recommended to maintain this dietary pattern and to ensure that energy and nutritional intake cover the developmental requirements of the child.

 In Valencia the temperature has been around 36ºC, which as far as I’m concerned is bloody hot and the only things I feel like are cold drinks, cold soups, salads and well anything cold! It just happened that I was talking to an old Mexican friend who used to run a restaurant here in Valencia the best Mexican restaurant ever, called La Mordida (now they are only in Madrid where they have 6 restaurants. www.lamordida.com) and as we were chatting I remembered the incredible guacamole they used to serve. It was unbelievably good. I was soon craving it and when I got home I decided to make some. Funnily enough, that evening we had some guests over so I thought it might be a nice appetizer with a glass of Albariño, to get things off to a start.

I have been making fresh guacamole for quite a long time mainly because the guacamole here in Spain that can be bought from the supermarket look processed and the wrong colour, so I don’t tend to go near it. I must admit that the fresh guacamole sold in the UK is much better.  But after trying the guacamole from La Mordida there was no going back, I stole the recipe and it was dip, dip, and dip with my tortilla chips from that point onwards! 

Guacamole is really simple, almost so simple I feel a bit daft publishing this post, but I decided to do it as I know there are a lot of people out there who still buy their guacamole in plastic tubs from the supermarket because they think it must be too difficult to make or haven’t really ever given it any thought. I was one of them until I saw it being made. It’s a joke, once you’ve done it, you’ll never buy ready made again. I still have friends who ask me how I make it and when I tell them the recipe they can’t believe how simple it is. So I thought I would share this really simple recipe with you all. I am sure many of you already know how to make guacamole but for those who haven’t made it yet, this will help you along. 

Like all traditional recipes everyone has their own touch or twist, but this recipe is apparently the authentic one according to my dear Mexican friends… so who’s to argue with them! In Europe many people include tomato in their guacamole that isn’t exactly traditional. Traditionally the tomato is eaten along side the guacamole in a “salsa” called ‘Pico de Gallo’, which I will also share the recipe for, don’t worry, absolutely fantastic too!

These are the ingredients you’ll need for 4 people:

3 large mature avocados (nor green, nor over-ripe, make sure there at the right point in the maturation process.)

This diagram will help :

2 dessert spoons of finely diced red onion.
2 dessert spoons  of coarsely chopped fresh coriander.
½  Serrano chile (optional) also finely chopped
½ lime squeezed (or lemon)
Salt and Freshly crushed black pepper 

Quite simply cut in half, remove the  pit, sccop out the flesh and mash coarsely with  a fork in a bowl. Add the finely chopped red onion, the coriander and the chili, if you want it. Then squeeze the juice of half a lime over the top and sprinkle salt and freshly ground pepper over the top. Mix with a fork and taste for seasoning. It should not become a creme it should be like a lumpy paste. Let it sit for 10 minutes in the fridge and serve with a bowl of “pico de gallo”.

The “pico de gallo” couldn’t be simpler,  it is exactly the same as before except you substitute the avocado for 2-3 ripe plum tomatoes (but not too ripe – the skin shouldn’t wrinkle when you press it), which are the most similar in flavour to the tradicional mexican “jitomato”. Now all you need to do is serve them up with a bowl of nacho corn chips.

Easy and delicious.

I know it’s not very Spanish, but it’s “Latin” and very refreshing!

Enjoy!

It has also been demonstrated that olive oil plays an importantrole in the immune system.

The immune system defends the body against invasion by foreign substances (toxins, microorganisms, parasites, tumour processes, etc.) by coordinating specific and non-specific mechanisms.

The non-specific or innate defences are the front-line protection against microorganisms. They are made up of the skin, mucous membranes, the complement system (the complement, a group of some 20 proteins manufactured in the liver, helps to destroy micro-organisms) hormonal factors, etc. and their action is not affected by prior contact with the foreign substance.

Specific mechanisms occur following exposure to the substance and they require the involvement of the B-lymphocytes (humoral system) and the T-lymphocytes (cell system).

Innate immunity responds in a similar way to the majority of microbes whereas the specific immune response varies according to the type of microorganism in order to eliminate it as effectively as possible.

It has been documented that olive oil intake bolsters the immune system against external attacks from microorganisms, bacteria or viruses.

It has been known for some time that mineral and vitamin deficiencies can have an adverse effect on the immune system.

Recent research has concluded that the fatty acids in the make-up of olive oil are good allies in lowering important immunological parameters such as the proliferation of lymphocytes induced by specific mitogens of both B- and T-cells.
These fatty acids have been reported to play an important part in various immune functions. They are involved in regulating inflammatory processes and they may be effective in the treatment of some autoimmune diseases and in the regulation of the immune system in general.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory immune disease of unknown causes that affects the joints. Genes, infective factors, hormones and diet have been suggested as possible associates in its onset. Although some studies had suggested that olive oil could help to alleviate its symptoms they did not provide confirmation of such a protective effect.

Now, the results of a recently published study suggest that regular consumption of olive oil may reduce the risk of developing rheumatoid arthritis.

According to the authors of the study, the people on diets containing high levels of olive oil had less risk of suffering this disease. The study found that the people who consumed less olive oil had 2.5 times more possibility of developing rheumatoid arthritis than those who consumed it more frequently.

Although the mechanism involved is not yet clear, antioxidants are suspected to exert a beneficial effect.