Nutritional and Medicinal Uses
Researchers have found that olive leaf dilates isolated rat aorta. The blood pressure lowering effects in humans, however, was not statistically significant.
Recent research in rodents has shown that olive leaf extracts may reduce infarct volume, brain edema, as well as improve blood–brain barrier permeability and neurological deficit scores after transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (stroke).
Olive leaf harbours antioxidant properties that help protect the body from the continuous activity of free radicals. Free radicals are highly reactive chemical substances that can cause cellular damage if left unchecked. Some recent research on the olive leaf has shown its antioxidants to be effective in treating some tumors and cancers such as liver, prostate, colon, skin and breast cancer, clinical studies lacking; Olive leaf is especially potent when used in combination with other antioxidants.
Olive leaf can be taken as a liquid concentrate, dried leaf tea, powder, or capsule. The leaf extracts can be taken in powder, liquid concentrate, or capsule form though the fresh-picked leaf liquid extracts are quickly gaining popularity due to the broader range of healing compounds they contain.
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Famous quotes containing the word medicinal:
“Our Indian said that he was a doctor, and could tell me some medicinal use for every plant I could show him ... proving himself as good as his word. According to his account, he had acquired such knowledge in his youth from a wise old Indian with whom he associated, and he lamented that the present generation of Indians “had lost a great deal.””
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)