Learn
Olive oil and health, without the overreach
We sell olive oil, so treat what follows with appropriate suspicion. We have tried to separate what the evidence reasonably supports from what gets claimed by people with something to sell — ourselves included.
Extra virgin olive oil is a genuinely good fat: mostly monounsaturated, carrying vitamin E and polyphenols that refining destroys. Diets built around it are consistently associated with better heart health than diets built on saturated or refined fats. It is not a medicine, and adding more of it on top of an otherwise poor diet is not a strategy.
What is actually in it
Monounsaturated fat
About 73% of total fat, mostly oleic acid.
Vitamin E
2.02 mg per 15ml — 20% RDI.
Polyphenols
16.96 mg CAE per 100ml in our current batch.
Saturated fat
2.225 g per 15ml — lower than butter, but not zero.
Olive oil and heart health
Large studies of Mediterranean dietary patterns, where extra virgin olive oil is the main added fat, have repeatedly found better cardiovascular outcomes than comparison diets higher in saturated or refined fats.
The nuance is that these studies test a pattern, not a supplement. Olive oil arrives alongside vegetables, legumes, fish and whole grains, and replaces other fats rather than simply being added.
Where our own oil does not qualify
Our current batch is about 185 mg/kg total polyphenols and does not meet the European threshold for a blood-lipid protection claim. We will not make that claim. The same panel supports that 15ml provides 20 percent of the Australian RDI for vitamin E.
Four claims to be sceptical of
“Lowers cholesterol”
The evidence concerns replacing saturated fat within a whole diet, not treatment.
“High-polyphenol oil is medicine”
Real research exists, but many claims go well beyond what has been shown in people.
“Take a spoonful on an empty stomach”
There is no good evidence that timing or an empty stomach changes anything.
“Olive oil helps you lose weight”
It can fit a weight-loss diet by displacing other fats, but it is still energy-dense.
How to actually get the benefit
Substitute rather than accumulate. Use enough to replace other fats, buy it fresh, store it away from heat and light, and finish it within a few months.
This page is general information about a food, not medical advice.
Oil you will actually finish
A 1L tin at $34 is priced to be poured generously rather than rationed.