Oleic Acid

         Unlike most of the molecules we have seen until now in previous entries, oleic acid was a molecule that existed in abundance being found in the olives of olive trees. These olive trees would produce one of the most treasured substances in the Mediterranean, the olive oil. Olive trees were sacred and the oil its olives produced was said to be ‘the lifeblood’ of this societies. Innumerous myths circled around the olive tree and it was seen as a divine gift, a symbol of peace and a source of food and fuel. Laws were created to protect this tree, and if violated severe punishments would be used. References of olive trees in religion, poetry, art, mythology and all its most varied uses in the daily life made it an important symbol for many cultures, symbolizing peace, victory, knowledge, renewal, strength and sacrifice for some, and also wealth, virginity and fertility for others.

            Oils have been long extracted from innumerous different plants, but no other oil reached such high importance as the olive oil and it is believed that the molecule oleic acid found in the olives is what sets this oil apart from the others, being the source of development of the western civilization and democracy. Oils are also known as triglycerides, composed of a glycerol molecule and three fatty acids that connect to the glycerol through condensation and realizing three water molecules with the formation of one triglyceride molecule. All the oils have the same glycerol molecules, what changes from oil to oil are the fatty acids and its levels of saturation. A saturated fatty acid means that no more hydrogen can be added to it, which means that the fatty acid is made of single bonds. On the other hand unsaturated fatty acids have these double bonds and don’t have the maximum amount of hydrogen possible. The double bonds will also make the fatty acid have a more bent shape having a less efficient packing, since the triglycerides can’t also pack as closely. This situation makes the products of these molecules have lower melting points, tending to be liquids at lower temperatures. Oleic acid is one of these triglycerides with monounsaturated fatty acids, meaning that they have only one double bond. Olive oil is the oil which contains the biggest amount oleic acid, and these monounsaturated fatty acids are known for having a neutral effect on cholesterol levels. While saturated fatty acids increase the cholesterol levels and promote heart diseases, polyunsaturated fatty acids do the opposite, lowering the levels of cholesterol but also increase the level of bad lipoproteins, which is a negative aspect. However the monounsaturated triglycerides, like oleic acid, besides being neutral for cholesterol levels, also decrease the amount of bad lipoproteins a very important factor that makes this molecule a good health promoter.

            The love for olive oil was great and the cultivation of the trees spread to further lands, and this oil eventually became a product that could be exported since it could be very profitable and was able to create a lot of commerce. Olive oil could be used in trades and the producers would exchange it for other materials like spices, metals, fabrics, between many others. The commercialization and trade of olive oil had great potential, so more olive trees were planted in coastal forests, where its trees were cut down to plant the olive ones. This had big environmental consequences because the olive trees eroded the land and the fields that were once so fertile, could no longer support other crops, negative effects that are still felt in Greece today, and that at the time made the country import most of its food necessities due to losing its treasured agricultural areas. 

            Olive oil may have had a very negative impact on agricultural lands in Greece, damaging theirs soils, deeply. However this wasn’t the biggest influence of olive oil in history. One of the most important discoveries of all time came from the olive oil, and it was none other than the soap. Now soap may seem something unimportant and common, but in a time when most diseases where spread and developed due to the lack of hygiene, soap was the salvation of many people and completely changed the lifes and mentalities. The invention of soap was most probably an accident, a very fortunate random discovery when people started to notice that oils and fats that fell onto the ashes of fires produced a substance that would turn into a foamy lather when in water, and that this substance had potential to be used as a cleaning agent. This process in which the triglycerides of fats and oils would react with the alkalis of ashes was called saponification. In this process, the triglyceride would be broken into its components using an alkali or a base and one glycerol and three molecules of soap would be produced.

Romans were the first to manufacture soap, using it mainly to wash clothes and only years later did it start being used in bathing. However, with the decline of Rome the soap production also started to decline, until Spain started to produce very high quality soap named ‘Castile’ from olive oil, which was exported and seen as a very luxurious item. Soap was still mainly used for washing closes for centuries more since bathing was both unfashionable and seen as sinful, most people only bathed once a year and this mentalities did not change quickly. During the fourteenth century soap started to be produced commercially but the monopoly rights were sold by the king, which created a fight between the king and the parliament, making soap one of the reasons for the English Civil War. In the late eighteenth century were still not very used, and its used decreased even more with the industrialization. People would now live in clustered towns and didn’t have the means to produce the soap on their own, and the product was too expensive for common families to buy it so its use continued to decline until the end of the eighteenth century when Nicholas Leblanc started to produce cheaper soap by using soda ash in the saponification. That added to the higher availability of fats, and the removal of taxes on soaps made it possible for families to buy it. Soap is able to clean because it has one end that os able to dissolve in water, and another that is able to dissolve grease, oils and fats. This way, the soap molecules are able to penetrate the grease particle forming a cluster named micelle, and the negative charged ended of the soap molecules on the outside end up repelling each other and are washed away by water taking the grease particle with them.

Oleic acid was without a doubt a very important molecule in history, bringing both negative and positive consequences to the world, something that the authors show perfectly well in the book, mentioning various developments in history where oleic acid had an important role. The importance oleic acid, olive oil and olive trees had in the past are still felt today. Olive oil is still used every day in our diet, and specialists tell us how this oil can be beneficial to health. Soaps are still one of the most amazing discoveries ever, saving innumerous lives and making it possible for nowadays a bath be something common and the olive trees are still sacred to some cultures and people. Over all, oleic acid is still an important molecule in our lifes.