Latest health benefit report - our thoughts New shipment of fresh olive oil being bottled now - orders please! Mother's Garden at important Cornwall food festival More Mother's Garden Fresh Extra Virgin Olive Oil is being bottled at the mill this week and will be ready for UK distribution in mid July. So get in touch to reserve some. Regular customers - and new customers - just click here to send us a message, or drop us an email. Also, for all Cornwall-based olive oil lovers - our friends Tamsin and Andy will be talking about and selling fresh Mother's Garden Olive Oil at the South Kerrier Festival Of Food, Helston Community College, Church Hill, Helston, this Saturday, 3 July, from 10.30am to 4pm. And here's something else to digest all of you who have quality (and fresh, we hope) extra virgin olive oil at the heart of your diet. Beyond the exceptional flavour of fresh olive oil it is a generally appreciated now that the finest olive oil is associated with important health benefits. Composed of monounsaturated fats (80%) and polyunsaturated fats (20%), it is also a healthy substitute for saturated fats such as butter, for example. Among the many findings, a few years ago scientists here in Spain said they had pinpoined the micro nutrients in olive oil that make it a good heart protector, supporting the accepted wisdom and other evidence that the Mediterranean diet cuts heart attack risk. The researchers said this is partly down to compounds called phenols that have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and clot-preventing powers. Well now it seems it is good not only for the heart, but the mind too. You may have read of a recent three-city medical study in France that looked at 8000 people over 65 found that those who had plenty of olive oil in their diet had a 41 per cent lower risk of a stroke than those who never used olive oil. Fascinating and welcome new research, and it is easy to accept it as fact. While we firmly believe in the goodness of olive oil - fresh olive oil - we at Mother's Garden urge everyone to push for more and more research into this ancient, wise and wonderful food, and to research for themselves into all findings to date. The Mediterranean diet is associated with a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease as well as a reduction in risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high cholesterol. High olive oil consumption is a fundamental feature of this diet. And with this truth comes the conclusion that higher consumption of olive oil reduces the risk of heart attacks and deaths, and is also linked to lower blood pressure. Is this because, by definition, if you consume a significant amount of olive oil then you are eating a healthier diet in general? Because of the general high cost of olive oil are all regular consumers participating in studies likely to be able to afford a better diet in general? If, beyond the wonderful flavour of fresh olive oil, we are going to clearly define the tremendous goodness of simple olive juice then we all need to push for more and more research. For an important, impartial view of the study into olive oil and reduced incidence of stroke, see the NHS report - http://www.nhs.uk/news/2011/06June/Pages/olive-oil-and-risk-of-stroke.aspx