From the land around the Mediterranean Sea, the olive groves. Picture, if you will, harvesters standing on large drop cloths, hands reaching into the branches of olive trees and skillfully stripping the olives off their branches. Olives, some dark, some green, due to the stage of ripening, drop to the ground and collect on the cloth below. Then off they are carried to be processed into that luscious light green oil that we might use drizzled over a salad or poured into a saucer and sprinkled with herbs into which we dip out freshly baked bread.

This is what we think of when we think about olives, right? Olives, green, stuffed with pimentos, or ripe, resting in the solution into which they were placed for preservation to be packed into jars to come to us via our local grocery, however, is not what we are investigating here.

No, it’s the leaves. The olive leaves. Olives and their oil have long been hailed as boons to good health, but the leaves also have wonderful medicinal properties in the form of Olive Leaf Extract.

What is an extract?

According to Oxford Dictionaries, an extract is “a preparation containing the active ingredient of a substance in concentrated form.” Naturally, we think vanilla extract, from which comes that luscious aroma we savor when chocolate chip cookies are pulled hot out of the oven, or drink a vanilla shake. But if you have ever tasted vanilla in its extract form, the flavor is not at all what you would think, likely because you are tasting the concentrated form. Its flavor is much more powerful.

The leaves of the olive tree produce an extract as well. The root word, extract, as a verb, means to withdraw by physical or chemical process, says Merriam-Webster. Extract’s synonyms give the word even more flavor. Educe, evoke, elicit, extort, all mean to “draw out something hidden, latent, or reserved.” And such it is with the olive leaf. When the extract is made, the leaf gives up its essence, and that essence has many miraculous properties.

Miraculous Properties of Olive Leaf Extract

  • Antioxidant – prevents cell damage from oxidation
  • Anti-inflammatory – reduces the risk of inflammation
  • Antimicrobial – prevents growth of microorganisms, like bacteria
  • Anti-carcinogenic – reduces the risk of cancer
  • Antinociceptive – reduces pain stimuli
  • Gastroprotective – protects the digestive system
  • Neuroprotective – Protects the central nervous system

What do these properties mean for the olive leaf extract user? It could mean lower blood pressure; enhancement of anti-aging; reduced risk of cardio vascular problems, like atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease; regulation of diabetes; improved brain function; reduced risk of cancer; improved digestion; immune system boost; pain relief; increased metabolism; and prevention of bacterial and fungal infections.

Health Begins in the Mouth

The last benefit, prevention of bacterial and fungal infection is the main focus for your oral health. Bacterial infection is a problem we all face because whenever we eat, drink, or breathe, bacteria enters the mouth, and if oral care is not exemplary to kill bacteria, then bacterial infection can produce inflammation, and inflammation enters the blood stream and travels to every other organ in the body to cause disease. Health really begins in the mouth.

How do you kill bacteria and prevent inflammation from invading your body? Daily oral care is keenly necessary, but using a healthy oral care system, one that contains healthy ingredients, rather than the toxic ingredients you find in OTC oral care products, is even more important.

Where can you find healthy oral care products?

Swish Mouthwash contains olive leaf extract, along with many other healthy, natural ingredients. Go to cleankiss.com. Clean Kiss products are part of a symbiotic system for healthy oral care. All products are formulated to kill bacteria, prevent decay, heal gums, strengthen teeth, calm inflammation, and balance pH, using all natural, no chemical, ingredients.

This blog focuses on only one of the healthy ingredients in Swish Mouthwash.