The world seems to have fallen head over heels with all things Italian, or Mediterranean in broader terms. There never seems to be a shortage of "new study reports" hailing olive oil as "the next big superfood to take the world by storm". Even Jamie Oliver seems to consume olive oil as much as he drinks water while encouraging his unsuspecting viewers to do the same. The problem is, these journalists and these chefs are not particularly nutritionally or medically educated. So tell me, how can they possibly understand the intricacies of biochemistry? The simple answer is, they don't. As a result, facts become distorted and the truth disappears under a pile of garbage promoted by mass media.
Just recently, I met someone who asked me quite a few questions about diet after seeing what I eat myself and the topic of olive oil surfaced. I had just a few minutes to answer why I don't promote the addition of oil, not even the overhyped "heart-healthy" olive oil.
Olive oil damages the endothelium, the cells that line the arteries
A study where monkeys were fed a diet rich in monounsaturated fats for five years found that the monkeys developed extensive plaque build-up and coronary artery disease equivalent to those fed with saturated fat. Another study in Crete found that Cretans with heart disease had a daily intake higher in monounsaturated fats from olive oil.
Consuming a meal rich in olive oil appears to impair the dilation or expansion of arteries. It causes severe arterial constriction and reduces blood flow by up to 31%, which can damage the cells lining the blood vessels, especially those supplying the heart.
According to Dr. Robert Vogel and colleagues at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, the beneficial component of the Mediterranean diet comes from the antioxidant-rich fruits, vegetables and vinegar and omega-3 from wild-caught fish. These foods provide protection from the endothelial damage caused by fatty foods, including olive oil. If you're not eating your greens and oranges, you're vulnerable to effects of fat. Pouring olive oil all over an already bad diet- without fruits and veggies and loaded with cheeseburgers and fries- will only make your diet worse.
A tablespoon of olive oil delivers 120 calories and 15% saturated fat.
Yes, virgin olive oil is better for heart health and more effective against oxidative stress-induced inflammation of the arteries, which increases risk of plaque rupture and heart attacks. High polyphenol content has been credited for virgin olive oil's more superior benefits.
But if you've got to rely on olive oil for polyphenols, you need a tablespoon packed with 120 waist-expanding calories just to get 30 mg of phytosterols. That's a lot of calories for negligible benefits. On the other hand, you can get the same amount of polyphenols from a mere 11 calories of leafy lettuce. But polyphenols aren't the only goodness you can get from lettuce and other leafy greens that olive oil does not provide.
Olive oil doesn’t lower LDL cholesterol.
Just about every study shows that people who use olive oil, in place of other animal fats like butter, cheese and fatty meats, lowered their LDL cholesterol levels. But researchers say that if you eliminate widely-used and wildly popular LDL-elevating fats, of course LDL has no choice but to go down. It's the elimination of other artery-clogging fats that lowers LDL, not olive oil by itself. Adding olive oil to an otherwise healthy diet actually increases LDL levels.
Olive oil raises HDL but many people with high HDL have diseased arteries
One of the most inflated claims of the benefits of olive oil is that it raises HDL "good" cholesterol levels. Many studies support this claim, but HDL is just one modifying factor in a risk group of many and it's not the most important- LDL is. We should focus on the bigger picture with all factors that promote heart health, and not let HDL numbers dictate our actions and decisions.
Take for example the people living in rural Okinawa in Japan. This population has the lowest incidences of heart disease in the world and yet they have very low levels of HDL running in the 20s.
Raising HDL does not guarantee better health. Remember the monkeys that were fed olive oil for five years? The monkeys' HDL went sky high during the study but after five years, their coronary arteries were ridden with plaque and disease. A low level of LDL is a better indicator of heart health, which olive oil does not give.
Excessive fat consumption contributes to insulin resistance.
When you gain weight from excess caloric intake from fat, extra fat that is not used will be stored in your muscles. It layers on top of your liver cells and muscle cells, impairing their ability to respond to insulin. In addition, the fat in your diet impairs the biologic function of insulin. Combine it with high sugar intake, you have a recipe for obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Oils oxidize and release toxic compounds when cooked.
Anytime you cook with olive oil or any vegetable oil, you run the risk creating heat-induced damage. When heated, the good cholesterol in oil is oxidized into bad cholesterol. This oxidized cholesterol is introduced into your system and leads directly to heart disease. Oxidized or rancid oil is not fit for consumption.
Another important factor is that olive oil is high in omega-6
The healthiest way to cook is cooking with water- boiling, steaming and poaching.
Vegetable oils are a culprit of inflammation
Most vegetable oils are high in omega-6 fatty acids and it is the ratio between omega-6 and omega-3 that determines many diseases, especially inflammation. Omega-6 contributes to inflammation, while omega-3 curbs its devastating effects. The ideal ration is no more than 4 times the omega-6 vs 3, but olive oil has over 10 times the omega 6 as 3.
Omega-3 is the most important of the fatty acid group and is the one you need to pay close attention to. Olive oil is a poor source of omega-3; you'd have to down 207 ml of olive oil with 1, 800 calories and 30 g of saturated fat to get your daily dose.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but it's a good place to start. This doesn't mean you have to banish olive oil from your life for eternity. If you are very active and burn a lot of calories, a bit of olive oil won’t hurt. You can try giving it up for a while and you'll notice that your taste for oil will disappear. If you crave something fatty, have a whole food source like a bit of nut butter, for example.