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Olive oil pours it on: Touting benefits
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | January 30, 2005

With the 2005 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommending 6 teaspoons (2 tablespoons) of oil daily, olive oil has a head start.

This month's Tufts University Health and Nutrition Letter reports that the FDA gave the go-ahead to a new health claim for olive oil. After lobbying from the North American Olive Oil Association, olive oil bottles can have the claim: "Eating about two tablespoons (23 grams) of olive oil daily may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease due to the monounsaturated fat in olive oil.

"What the new label doesn't tell you according to the report, is that the "claim for heart-health benefits is based on limited and not conclusive scientific evidence."

But if you begin adding olive oil to your daily diet you need to be certain to eliminate another fat or you will pack on extra calories.