Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil is more of an ingredient than a food—unless you’re dipping bread into it—but it does have an integral role in many ethnic dishes, primarily from the Mediterranean. In fact, one of the healthiest diets in the world, the Mediterranean diet, places tremendous emphasis on healthy fats like extra virgin olive oil.
The polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil is the major player. These chemicals are known to improve memory and learning functions in the brain, and they can also reduce aging in the brain. Olive oil can also shield your brain from harmful ADDLs, a type of protein that is toxic to brain cells and is theorized to cause Alzheimer’s.
