Having a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on an empty stomach as a remedy to ease the constipation is a stablished costum in many rural areas that we have learned from our grandmothers. Is it fully effective? 

The study “The short-term effects of the olive oil and the linseed oil for the constipation treatment in pacients on hemodyalisis” endorse this ancient remedy to reduce the constipation symptons. Curiously in this clinic essay the inicial diary dosis that was given to the pacients was of 4ml while the approximate volume a tablespoon contains is of 6ml; a very similar quantity – our grandmothers were not so mislead-. It is true that in this study was not specified if the ingestion of EVOO is on an empty stomach or not so we cannot conclude if one way is more effective than the other.  

This symptons improvement of the constipation can be explained because the extra virgin olive oil covers the digestive tract and facilitates the intestinal transit, increasing the colecistokinin that stimulates the colon peristalsis andthe intestinal secretions apart from giving the feeling of fullnes – a collateral effect that can as well be very interesting if we want to control our weight. 

We have two important recommendations to make if you are going to try this remedy to ease the constipation. The first of them is to keep a healthy lifestyle: follow a regular timetable, walk everyday, soothe away stress, drink enough water and eat lots of fiber. The second is to choose a quality extra virgin olive oil that gives you as well the benefits of incluiding high contents in vitamin E, polyphenols – consult our Sol Chiquito Altofenol picual ecological EVOO characteristics – and squalene, of whose healthy effects we will talk in the next article.