Is olive oil healthy? What's in it and what's true

Yes, olive oil fits well in a healthy diet. The Voedingscentrum, the Netherlands Nutrition Centre, puts olive oil in the Wheel of Five (Schijf van Vijf), the Dutch national food guide, because it's mostly unsaturated fat and contains a good amount of vitamin E. Extra virgin olive oil also contains polyphenols, natural compounds from the olive. But olive oil is also pure fat: a tablespoon is about 120 kcal. So it mostly comes down to what you use it for, and what you use it instead of. Below you'll find what's in olive oil, what science and the rules say about it, and whether that spoonful of olive oil on an empty stomach does anything.

What's in olive oil?

Extra virgin olive oil also contains hundreds of minor compounds from the olive, including polyphenols. They give good oil its bitter taste and the peppery tickle in your throat. How much is in there varies a lot from oil to oil. Early harvest oil, made from olives that are still green, usually contains more. Regular olive oil is mostly refined, and refining removes most of the polyphenols.

What does the Voedingscentrum say?

The Voedingscentrum is clear about fats. Unsaturated fats, like those in olive oil, other vegetable oils and nuts, are good for your heart and blood vessels. Saturated fats, like those in butter, fatty meat and coconut fat, raise LDL cholesterol. The advice: replace foods high in saturated fat with foods high in unsaturated fat as much as you can. That's why olive oil is in the Wheel of Five as a cooking fat.

Worth knowing: according to the Voedingscentrum, olive oil is a good choice, but not the only one. Sunflower oil, rapeseed oil and liquid cooking fats are in there too. How they differ is in olive oil vs sunflower oil.

What can a bottle of olive oil say?

In the EU, a producer may only use health claims that have been assessed by EFSA, the European food safety authority, and approved by the EU. For olive oil, three come up often:

1. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats in the diet contributes to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels. This applies to foods high in unsaturated fat, so to olive oil too.
2. Vitamin E contributes to the protection of cells from oxidative stress. Olive oil contains enough vitamin E to say this.
3. Olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress. This claim is only allowed on oil that contains at least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and related compounds per 20 grams of oil. The effect applies with a daily intake of 20 grams of such an oil.

That last one is interesting. Plenty of oils don't reach that 5 mg, and the amount has to be properly measured. So if you see the claim on a bottle, it's a sign of an oil high in polyphenols. If it isn't there, that doesn't mean the oil is bad. Many producers simply don't have this specific test done.

What does research say about olive oil and the Mediterranean diet?

Olive oil is a fixed part of the Mediterranean diet: lots of vegetables, beans and lentils, whole grains, nuts, fish and little red meat. That way of eating has been studied a lot. One of the best known studies is PREDIMED from Spain. In one of its groups, participants received a litre of extra virgin olive oil every week for the whole household. The study was retracted and republished in 2018, after errors were found in how participants had been assigned to the groups. It's still one of the most discussed studies on food and health.

What you can take from it: olive oil doesn't work as a stand-alone superfood. It belongs to a way of eating with lots of plant foods, where oil takes the place of butter and fatty meat.

How much olive oil per day?

There's no official advice for olive oil on its own. The Voedingscentrum does give advice for spreads and cooking fats together, and it depends on your age and sex. Its tool Schijf van Vijf voor jou (in Dutch) shows what fits you.

A few practical points:

• Use olive oil instead of butter or other solid fats, not on top of them.
• Measure with a tablespoon now and then. A generous pour from the bottle is easily two or three tablespoons.
• Choose extra virgin if you want the polyphenols too. Regular olive oil has lost most of them.

A spoonful of olive oil on an empty stomach: does it work?

It's a popular tip on social media: a spoonful of olive oil every morning, sometimes with lemon juice. There's no good research showing that olive oil on an empty stomach does more than the same oil with your food. What is certain: it's about 120 extra calories per spoon. Still want a daily spoonful of good oil? Put it on your salad, your vegetables or a piece of bread. It tastes better there anyway.

Drinking olive oil has no proven extra benefit either. Tasters sometimes take a sip to judge an oil, but that's for tasting, not for health.

Is cooking with olive oil unhealthy?

No. Extra virgin olive oil is stable for normal frying and sautéing, thanks to its monounsaturated fat and natural protective compounds. What you should avoid, with any oil, is letting it smoke. That's when compounds form that you don't want to eat. Read more in our guide to cooking with olive oil.

When is olive oil less healthy?

• When it's rancid. Old or badly stored oil has oxidised. You can smell it: old nuts or candle wax. Here's how to store olive oil properly.
• When it smokes in the pan.
• When you eat a lot of it on top of a diet that already gives you enough energy. Oil is a healthy fat, but it's still fat.

Why we choose early harvest

Our oils come from olives picked early in the season, while they're still green. That takes more olives per litre, but you can taste it: fresher, grassier and with more bite. Our Finishing Oil, mostly Picual olives, is bold and peppery, for the plate. Our Cooking Oil, made from Arbequina olives, is mild and buttery, for the pan. Both are certified organic, cold extracted and lab tested batch by batch.

Frequently asked questions

Is olive oil healthy or unhealthy?

Olive oil fits in a healthy diet and is in the Wheel of Five. It's mostly unsaturated fat. Use it instead of butter or other solid fats, and keep the calories in mind.

Is olive oil healthier than butter?

According to the Voedingscentrum, yes: butter is high in saturated fat, olive oil is mostly unsaturated fat. The advice is to replace saturated fat with unsaturated fat as much as you can.

Is extra virgin healthier than regular olive oil?

The fat is largely the same. The difference is in the polyphenols and other compounds from the olive. Extra virgin has them, and refining regular olive oil removes most of them.

Does olive oil help you lose weight?

Not on its own. Olive oil is calorie dense, about 120 kcal per tablespoon. It can be part of a healthy way of eating, as long as it replaces other fats rather than coming on top of them.

How many calories are in a tablespoon of olive oil?

About 120 kcal. Fat gives 9 kcal per gram, and a tablespoon of oil weighs about 13 grams.

Is olive oil gluten free?

Yes. Pure olive oil contains no gluten.

This article gives general information and is not medical advice. If you have questions about your own health or diet, ask your GP or a dietitian.

Sources

• Voedingscentrum (Netherlands Nutrition Centre), Olijfolie and Vetten. In Dutch.
• Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, list of permitted health claims, with EFSA's assessment of olive oil polyphenols (EFSA Journal 2011;9(4):2033).
• Estruch, R. et al. (2018). Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. New England Journal of Medicine 378. See also the explanation from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health on the republication.
• USDA, FoodData Central (nutritional values of olive oil).