I hope this can end the silly debate that EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL is somehow this magical food, ambrosia and drink of the gods.
Take this about polyphenols from an undoubtedly industry sponsored site:
* [12 Surprising Health Benefits Of Olive Oil](https://www.aboutoliveoil.org/12-surprising-health-benefits-of-olive-oil)
>**1. It’s packed with polyphenols.**
>**Extra virgin olive oil is a particularly abundant source of polyphenols,** natural bioactive compounds with antioxidant properties that are found in plant foods like fruits, veggies, and olives. Polyphenols benefit health, in part, because they combat oxidative stress—a type of stress within the body that damages lipids, proteins, and DNA in a way that contributes to heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and dementia. Two abundant polyphenols present in olive oil are hydroxytyrosol and oleocanthal, which have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, cancer-fighting, neuroprotective, and antimicrobial properties.
or that craptastic site Healthline:
>[What Is Extra Virgin Olive Oil, and Why Is It Healthy?](https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/olive-oil-vs-vegetable-oil)
>**Extra virgin olive oil — the least processed type of olive oil** — is rich in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds like tocopherols, carotenoids, **and polyphenols.** Minimally refined olive oil also maintains some micronutrients, such as vitamins E and K (6Trusted Source, 7Trusted Source, 8Trusted Source, 9Trusted Source, 10Trusted Source).
First, let’s tackle Healthline’s big lie they start with. The least processed olive oil isn’t extra virgin, [it’s this instead](https://postimg.cc/r0x3mqbH). Study the label, see all the awesome logos with quality control assurances, and all the testing laboratories to make sure you aren’t being fooled with another vegetable oil. It’s gonna take a lot sleuthing not to be confused, but once you find it and taste it, you know you’re getting the real deal and not sunflower or soybean oil.
Now onto polyphenols, this magical ingredient in olive oil.
* https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1750-3841.2011.02599.x
>The quantities of total phenols and o-diphenols showed significant differences among cultivars. Zalmati oil contained the highest total phenol concentration (507 mg of caffeic acid/kg of oil), whereas Jemri Ben Guerdane oil recorded the lowest (364 mg/kg). The highest o-diphenol content was observed in Chemlali Zarzis oil (213 mg/kg), followed by “Jemri Ben Guerdane” (about 199 mg/kg), while “Zalmati” showed the lowest value (188 mg/kg). Nevertheless, when exploring 10 different farms in the north of the country where the Chétoui variety is cultivated, Ben Temime and others (2006) found that Chétoui olive oil from the region of Amdoun had very high levels of total phenols and o-diphenols, which exceeded 740 and 280 mg of caffeic acid/kg of oil, respectively.
High grade olive oil has about average, on the very high side, 500mg polyphenols per kg, or about 8,840 calories of the stuff.
In fact, half of the polyphenols is considered enough to call it high phenolic olive oil.
* https://www.allrecipes.com/article/what-is-high-polyphenol-olive-oil/
>By definition, high phenolic olive oil contains at least 250 mg polyphenols per kilogram of oil. So, not all olive oils are high in polyphenols — it depends how the oils are processed and stored.
Now, what about olives?
>Changes in phenolic compounds during olive processing (fermentation) were studied by Ben Othman and others (2009). These authors studied olive-flesh phenolic compounds during spontaneous and controlled fermentations of Chétoui olives at 3 stages of ripeness (green, varicolored, and black olives) using the HPLC-UV technique. After fermentation, changes in the quantity of phenolic compounds were observed; phenolic content in flesh increased after the fermentation of varicolored and black olives, especially in the controlled fermentation (from 384 and 311 to 621 and 510 mg gallic acid/100 g dry weight, respectively). In contrast, the phenolic content decreased in green olives from 652 to 460 mg gallic acid/100 g dry weight and to 380 mg/100 g dry weight in spontaneous and controlled fermentations, respectively. There was a decrease in the concentrations of protocatechuic acid, ferulic acid, and oleuropein, while HyTy concentration increased after fermentation, due to the acid and enzymatic hydrolysis of oleuropein. The concentrations of gallic, p-hydroxyphenylacetic, vanillic, and benzoic acids also decreased after the fermentation of green olives, although their concentrations increased for varicolored and black olives.
So, while fresh (but bitter and mildly toxic) olives have over 2,000 mg to start with, after processing it gets reduced to about (averaging) 500mg/100g. 100 grams of olives are about 115 calories.
Which is still far ahead of olive oil. To translate this to relateable numbers:
* About 30 olives will have the same polyphenol content of over a quart (+4 oz) of olive oil. Maybe even double as much.
* Or put another way, a single olive will have a polyphenol count of about 16.6mg.
* A tablespoon of olive oil, which came from roughly 100 olives, has the polyphenol count of a single of 6.94.
* **To get the equivalent polyphenols of a single olive (3-4 calories), you’ll need to eat about 2.4 tablespoons of olive oil, 288 calories.**
**So congrats, olive oil fanatics, you get your magical properties at only 76x the calories!** Maybe up to 150x with average numbers. Fantastic! A true bargain of health!
What, why is this?
* https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32785970/
>**The highest amount of total phenolic antioxidants ended up in olive wastewater** with variability due to the olive cultivar, while only a small part of them finished in the oil.
This is similar to a lot of health substances touted about, like resveratrol the wine industry likes to bring up. But they never mention resveratrol is in way higher amounts in fresh red grapes (skins) and other dark berries. Or how they go on and on about probiotics in yogurt when unpasteurized sauerkraut has 100x as much and far more diverse strains – so 1 level tablespoon of sauerkraut = over 6.25 cups of yogurt. The probiotic pills aren’t much better, in terms of serving size or bang for buck.
And if you investigate further, you will be similarly disappointed even with oil’s fat soluble vitamins vs whole, not to mention everything else it’s missing.
This is what happens when people listen to the industry about how totally awesome the stuff they make for everyone is.
The extra virgin olive oil talking point and health claims deserve to be mocked at every turn.
Dining and Cooking