At New Country Organics we’re always looking for new ways to bring you the best possible nutrition for your flock. Today, we’re bringing you a brand new product that we think you’ll love: a layer feed made with olive oil. This feed is based on our corn-free classic layer, but with a few key differences. The biggest difference, of course, is the use of extra virgin olive oil instead of sunflower or flaxseed oil. There are also no oil-seed products like sunflower meal in this feed, making this feed specially balanced to be higher in mono-unsaturated fatty acids like oleic acid. Oleic acid is only one of the reasons why we love olive oil so much and are so excited to offer this feed, though, so let’s take a closer look.
What’s oleic acid, and what does it do?
Fantastic question, and boy howdy does it ever have answers. To begin, oleic acid is a mono-unsaturated fatty acid, also known as a MUFA. That means that the fat only has one double bond in the whole molecule, which makes it very stable, but also gives it all the benefits of being a liquid fat. In other words, the high percentage of MUFAs in olive oil are why it’s a liquid oil that you can use at pretty high heats without it burning. Oleic acid – named after olive oil – is one of the biggest parts of that high MUFA percentage, and it has superpowers.
It can help animals maintain a healthy gut microbiome, which helps them keep a healthy weight and metabolism. When studied in mice, olive oil high in oleic acid vastly increased the number of healthy gut bacteria while steeply decreasing both the levels of unhealthy cholesterol and the risk of metabolic syndrome. That reduction in unhealthy cholesterol, as well as general improvement of blood pressure, has been shown time and time again in humans consuming oleic acid as well. These effects lead to better heart health and longevity over time, and though scientists are only just now studying how it affects gut microbes in animals other than mice, everyone is expecting similar results there, too.
Oleic acid is also great for the brain. Studies have shown that it improves blood flow to the brain and protects the neurons there, even after a blood restriction event such as a stroke. It’s so efficient after strokes, in fact, that it’s being investigated as a possible treatment – and that’s not all. When studied in mice, oleic acid bonded with nitrous oxide was shown to significantly reduce inflammation surrounding motor neurons in mice affected by muscular dystrophy. Further, it reduces oxidative stressors in and around those neurons in the brain and elsewhere, strengthening and supporting them as they perform. Overall, there’s strong evidence that oleic acid isn’t just helpful to brain function, but necessary to support and protect that most important of organs.
Why no seeds or seed oils?
Many of our customers have expressed concerns about all seeds and seed oils as research has come forth showing concerns about seed oils such as canola and soy. For soy and canola, specifically, there’s a higher likelihood that those oilseeds are contaminated by GMOs than with many other oils. More generally, the high level of processing in oilseed products, especially with heat and chemical extraction methods that use chemicals such as hexane, often lead to a reduced level of important nutrients like vitamins A and E that are normally abundant in the raw ingredients. Further, depending on the amount of heat used during processing, some molecules may be converted into trans-fats, which are well known to be bad for health in a number of ways. There are many more reasons that people express concern over these oils, but these are some of the most commonly expressed.
While our sunflower oil is cold-pressed and we specifically use high oleic, low linoleic sunflower oil, we still felt that olive oil is an amazing ingredient that we wanted to bring to your flock for even better health and wellness. For one thing, olive oil is an absolutely fantastic source of major antioxidants. Antioxidants protect all the cells in your body from unbalanced atoms and stray electrons alike. This helps prevent everything from heart disease to aging itself. For more examples, olive oil’s unique profile of fatty acids, antioxidants, and micronutrients has even been shown to improve blood sugar levels in people affected by type-2 diabetes and reduce inflammation in those with rheumatoid arthritis, making this oil an all-around wonder for health benefits.
We (and our chickens!) are in love with this new feed, and we hope you and your flock will enjoy it as much as we do. You can find it in our online store to get points toward your next purchase, or order over the phone with our wonderful customer care team. We want to bring you the best feeds possible for your needs so that your flock can live healthier, happier lives and you can love them even longer, and we think this feed will do just that.
Further reading:
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/11/12/3005
https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.0807500105
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0032579119389060
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-47057-z
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2018.00131/full
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1470204500000152
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378512218306522