The organism creates means of control, neutralization, and, consequently, protection against noxious agents formed in our bodies. The organism can form or acquire antioxidants, natural substances that protect us from free radicals. In olive oil the most recognized and studied protective substances are vitamins A and E.

At this point we return to our journey, since, as luck would have it, in the bloodstream, there is also a small tractor called HDL. It is a lipoprotein that carries little fat, and for this reason it pushes along and gives a lift to the cholesterol it comes across, where the LDL has already passed. The question is that to have these tractors cleaning our organism, we need to avoid foods rich in saturated fatty acids (see Os caminhos das Lipoproteins), and we need to ingest many foods rich in unsaturated fatty acids, natural antioxidants the case of vitamins A and E, selenium and zinc which protect us against free radicals. Presuming all this mechanism of our bodies is understood, let us return to our topic, The Foods of the Food Pyramid.