Italian scientists have discovered that one particular cooking oil contains a natural chemical that not only heals intestinal damage but may be beneficial in helping the body fend off arthritis and cope with pleurisy and spinal cord injuries. You can use it in your kitchen right now and start reaping the benefits.

The oil is olive oil. It contains a compound called oleuropein aglycone, a polyphenol that has been shown, in lab tests, to boost healing after intestinal injury.

“The phenolic compounds of olive oil can reduce the secondary injury associated with intestinal damage,” says researcher Salvatore Cuzzocrea, Ph.D., of the University of Messina in Messina, Italy. “Oleuropein aglycone may be useful in the therapy of inflammation-associated disease.”

“Olive oil’s healing properties have been known for millennia,” says John Wherry, Ph.D., deputy editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, where the study is published. “But until relatively recently, we have had few direct scientific insights into exactly how it works in the body. Not only does this report shed light on the molecular details of how olive oil may provide health benefits, but it may open new doors to enhancing treatments based on this discovery.”