One and a half tablespoons a day virgin olive oil does wonders for your health by substantially reducing the risk of death, but regular olive oil has no benefit in protecting against mortality, according to a study.
This level of consumption, about 22 grams per day, reduces the risk of dying from any cause in a given period by 34%.
And it reduces the chance of death related to cardiovascular diseases, for example, from heart disease, by 57 percent, according to research.
By contrast, regular olive oil, which has been refined, didn’t result in a reduction in any of the risks, the study found, though that’s not to say it doesn’t potentially provide other health benefits.
This is the first research to directly compare the effects of virgin and regular olive oils on mortality risk, based on a representative group of the general population, making it the most comprehensive study on the subject to date. experts say.
The superior health properties of virgin or extra virgin olive oil (they are essentially the same thing, with virgin olive oil much less common) are thought to be due to their having much higher levels of antioxidants.
This group of chemicals protects against the effects of “free radicals,” molecules produced by the body that have been linked to conditions such as heart disease and arthritis.
“This is the first study capable of accurately differentiating the type of olive oil consumed: common and virgin. And it is clear that the one that brings benefits is the virgin, and not the common one”, explains the main researcher Carolina Donat-Vargas, from the Autonomous University of Madrid. Yo.
“Currently, several dietary guidelines recommend healthy vegetable oils such as olive or canola oil as part of the usual diet. Based on our findings, these dietary guidelines should emphasize the preferable consumption of virgin olive oil over refined olive oil,” he said.
“However, whether virgin olive oil is also superior to other vegetable oils should be tested in future studies,” added Dr. Donat-Vargas.
Despite the cost of living crisis, Dr. Donat-Vargas affirms that, if possible, “it is worth the economic effort to buy an extra virgin olive oil instead of a regular one, not only to consume raw but also for cooking.
The research did not distinguish between raw olive oil, for example, which is drizzled over a salad or spread on bread, and heated olive oil, from use in stews, soups or sauces, for frying bacon or grilling vegetables.
She explains that extra virgin olive oil has a higher smoke point (240C) than other vegetable oils, so it withstands temperatures better.
That means that it does not break down and lose nutritional properties or generate toxic substances.
“The message is to use extra virgin olive oil for everything in the kitchen and end the mistaken belief that it is only used raw. The higher the quality of the oil, the better the smoke point it has and the better it is for cooking,” he said.
Experts not involved in the study welcomed its findings.
“These results are truly important and will be deservedly considered in all dietary guidelines, as mortality is the most important hard endpoint that can be measured in clinical research. This type of reduction in cardiovascular mortality can hardly be achieved with a drug and without the side effects,” said Ramón Estruch, senior consultant at the Department of Internal Medicine at Hospital Clínic and lead author of a landmark essay on the benefits of the mediterranean diet.
“The type of olive oil that should be recommended to include in a healthy diet should be extra virgin olive oil,” added Dr. Estruch, who is also an associate professor at the University of Barcelona.
“Although extra virgin olive oil is an excellent type of fat, it should be consumed as part of a healthy diet, such as the Mediterranean diet. Due to the synergies of the effects of different foods of the Mediterranean diet, greater healthy effects are achieved when it is consumed with healthy foods such as vegetables, legumes, wholemeal bread”, he adds.
It’s not clear exactly why extra virgin olive oil is so much more beneficial than regular olive oil, although Dr. Donat-Vargas says it could be because it has much higher levels of bioactive compounds like polyphenols, a group of at least 8,000 compounds that protect plants against aggressors such as sun damage, insects and pathogens.
Humans can also benefit from these compounds, which can be rich in antioxidants, with strong anti-inflammatory, antifungal, and antibacterial properties.
“Virgin olive oil is enriched with abundant bioactive compounds such as polyphenols that have a wide spectrum of beneficial effects on health,” he says.
“However, during the refining process used to obtain the common olive oil variety, most of these minor compounds are lost and chemical solvents are added. Therefore, these healthy compounds are basically found in sufficient quantities only in the virgin olive oil variety, which is obtained only by mechanical means by crushing and pressing the olives. “
“By contrast, ordinary olive oil, which is a mixture of virgin (20 percent) and refined (80 percent), has far fewer bioactive compounds,” he said.
Between 2008 and 2010, 12,161 people, aged 18 years or older, representative of the Spanish population, were recruited and followed up until 2019. Habitual food consumption was collected at the beginning of the study with a validated computerized dietary history.
After a mean follow-up of 10.7 years (129,272 person-years), 143 cardiovascular deaths and 146 cancer deaths occurred.
The study is published in the peer-reviewed European Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
The difference between virgin and extra virgin is minimal and in practice there are only extra virgin oils, explains Dr. Donat-Vargas.
“A virgin oil is the one obtained by the first cold pressing of the olive and by mechanical procedures. To be called “extra” it has to meet certain parameters of acidity. If it does not meet them, it cannot be called “extra” but the nutritional quality and polyphenol content is the same. It is difficult to find a virgin oil on the market that is not Extra Virgin”.
