DIGESTIBILITY OF OLIVE OIL

With regards to other olive oils, olive oil presents a higher digestibility factor and therefore is more readily absorbed by the intestinal mucous (a food is more digestible the less time remains in the gastrointestinal tract).

We will illustrate briefly the digestive mechanism of fatty substances In a normal diet, fat is, on average, 20-40% of the total calories consumed daily (this means about 500 to 1000 calories). So that the intestines manage to absorb fats, and therefore use them, they must be modified, or attacked by digestive enzymes released by the exocrine pancreas gland that reduces their size, dividing them into their constituent base. To make sure that this is carried out correctly, the fats need to be emulsified by the bile salts, whose tasks consists in guiding the lipid into the correct position, allowing an easier enzyme attack. 

The digestibilty of the fats depend on the length of the chain and the type of fatty acids present in the triglyceride molecule. In particular the hydrolysis rate (digestion of starch) is related to the presence of significant amounts of saturated fatty acids (eg stearic acid).  The predominance of a certain type of acid, in effect, determines the nutritional quality of fats and, therefore, their metabolic function. The high digestibility of olive oil is given by the presence of oleic acid.

 Source: www.aceitedeoliva.com

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