Olive oil: How to unlock health benefits | Prof. Tim Spector & Elizabeth Berger

Olive oil could transform your health. It regulates blood sugar, helps with weight management and prevents long-term disease. That is if it's the right kind of olive oil.

Distributor of the world’s finest olive oils, Elizabeth Berger, and Professor Tim Spector discuss its health benefits, debunk myths, and explain how storage and cooking methods affect its nutritional value.

In today's episode, we learn how to get the most from olive oil, why choosing the right olive oil is crucial and the significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of this kitchen staple.

Elizabeth Berger is the founder of Frantoi, which works with growers and millers across Italy to harvest exceptional extra virgin olive oils. Tim Spector is a true olive oil evangelist, as well as one of the world’s top 100 most-cited scientists and ZOE's scientific co-founder.

*Naturally high in copper which contributes to normal energy yielding metabolism and the normal function of the immune system

Timecodes:
00:00 Introduction
01:33 Quickfire questions
04:03 How is olive oil made?
05:19 The 4 grades of olive oil
12:40 Olive oil in Mediterranean diets
14:40 The science behind healthy olive oil
18:11 Why we need healthy fats
22:42 What are polyphenols?
24:43 Extra virgin vs regular olive oil
27:03 Is there food industry misinformation about olive oil?
27:30 The power of seasonal eating
28:30 The best time to buy olive oil
29:36 The biggest myths about olive oil
34:25 How to properly store olive oil
36:06 How long do the health benefits last?
42:21 Is it safe to cook with extra virgin olive oil?
46:06 Tasting session of 3 extra virgin oils
58:36 How to identify high-quality olive oil
01:00:00 Tips to get more olive oil in your diet

Books by our ZOE Scientists:

Mentioned in today's episode

[FireOElijahMC]

This is great. If you want to learn some eye-opening truths about health industry "Health and Beauty Mastery" is a must-read.

[charleswillcock]

I have changed my diet following comments on Zoe about keeping your gut healthy. These days I now have 4 spoons of extra virgin olive oil on my lunchtime salad. Is there any chance you could make two version of your videos, the extended version like this, and then a shorter 10 to 15 minute version for people who are working for a living and do not have the time for a 71 minute long video? I think you could reach a lot more people with an shortened version.

[create]

In Greece, we cook with olive oil and all the other foods, salads and such ❤❤ I just bought, 17 kilos of olive oil, for the year, it was made in the spring, of 2024 ❤ we buy oil for the year 🙏 it cost 150 euros it’s abit expensive last year and this year, the trees had fewer olive, otherwise, it was 80 euros for 17 kilos ❤❤❤we are fortunate 🙏

[beverleyroberts]

I live in Spain, and I would still go to a small shop that specialises in Extra Virgin Olive Oil. I have one in my town, and as soon as the owner saw me looking at the olive oil, she came over to tell me all about it. The one I buy is harvested in October, and comes from Andalusia, the olive is a royal olive, which is milder, they also sell olive 🫒 oil made from the picual olive, which gives the bite in the throat. The olive oil is green and tastes delicious 😋 And makes an amazing salad 🥗 dressing. Loved this video, my take away is the 36 polyphenols, wow! 😃

[helenhiggs]

I live in an olive growing region of Portugal and my own olives are harvested by my neighbour. They go to a co-operative and are mixed with other smallholders olives. The oil is mixed and distributed according to the weight of the olives when they arrive. We use it for cooking and buy extra virgin olive oil for dressings, etc. None of our bottles of Extra Virgin olive oil have harvest dates, only expiry dates.

[dopapier]

This is extremely interesting and has changed my approach. Elizabeth Berger is also the most perfect speaker, clear, knowledgeable, with a smile to melt mountains, using limited but appropriate hand gestures, totally fluent. Thank you for this.

[tincanguru]

Would be useful to know the difference between olive oil and eating whole olives. When dealing with fruit juices it has been said that the fresh whole fruit is far more beneficial than the squeezed juice, even when fresh. Is it the same with olives?

[individufutile]

It's not the first time I hear that extra virgin olive oil contains polyphenols but their amount is actually very low. You can see in Phenol-Explorer that the amount is only about 55 mg/100 g. Then you can find this study [1] and see in the first table that this amount may be even lower: around 41 mg GAE/100 mL which is only 4 mg for a 10 mL tablespoon.

Now, what's the amount of polyphenols in orange juice for example? If we consider that the values of Phenol-Explorer are correct, it's around 49 mg/100 mL so slightly more than olive oil though it's around 20 times less calorific.
On this website, coffee is said to be about 267 mg/100 mL which is around the same as in this study [2]. It's probably even more for hibiscus infusions and there are also raw whole lentils at 3697 mg/100 g (even if a big portion is lost during cooking it's still a lot) and non-alkalized cocoa powder at 5624 mg/100 g.

With all that, it's impossible for me not to consider extra virgin olive oil as a negligible source of polyphenols, especially for people with a decent diet. Personally, I'd better take canola/rapeseed oil since its amount of omega-3 is not negligible (or at least much less) in top of having more polyunsaturated fatty acids which are linked to lower cardiovascular disease (including omega-6) when they replace saturated fatty acids (monounsaturated fatty acids predominant in olive oil don't seem to help much [3, 4]) though this oil also contains some trans fat, 3-MCPD, and glycidol in its refined version. Even if they don't seem to be noticeably harmful at such low amounts, there's also the possibility to use the unrefined version to avoid those 3 substances but its smoke point seems to be around 100 °C so it's probably better not to cook with it. No oil is perfect.

1: Antioxidant Properties and Fatty Acid Profile of Cretan Extra Virgin Bioolive Oils: A Pilot Study
2: Stability of phenolic compounds and antioxidant capacity of regular and decaffeinated coffees
3: Reduction in saturated fat intake for cardiovascular disease
4: Circulating Fatty Acids and Risk of Coronary Heart Disease and Stroke: Individual Participant Data Meta‐Analysis in Up to 16 126 Participants

[olguitax]

I love this video, really insightful.
I’m Spanish and we have been always cooking with extra virgin oil at home, like everybody else in Spain. My family coming from Jaén, one of the regions with higher production of very high quality and quantity of this oil so I’m quite disappointed that the three oils you test during the video are Italians. Kudos to Italians though who are much better doing marketing than us… we do have top quality oil, why wasn’t it at least one bottle from Spain?
Thanks!

[rosepetal]

I have been priced out of using olive oil. It has just become too expensive for my budget. Like in so many other ways, a healthy lifestyle is unfortunately linked to income.

[mountaingoat]

TIP: Pour EVOO into a sealable tub and freeze to a solid block (takes a few hours). Then transfer to the back of your refrigerator where it will soften to form a spreadable butter.

[lindaelarde]

Dr Neal Barnard recently discussed the negative effects of olive oil including the 14% saturated fat in olive oil, and its potential contribution to insulin resistance, and weight gain. I'd never heard this emphasis on the negatives of olive oil, although he did say it improves health if it's adopted as a substitute for chicken fat or butter or ghee. He also acknowledged the benefits of polyphenols but recommended eating olives rather than the oil. Seems the blue zone centegenarians have not found olive oil to promote cardiovascular disease or insulin resistance. I was quite surprised at his assessment of olive oil. It is very confusing to decide what to do as a consumer.

[ericroberts]

Some say olive oil is good and they are now saying its bad again ? What do we do as consumers ? Very confusing ? However, I will continue to take olive oil as part of my healthy life style.

[jillsullivan]

Very interesting. We love lots of EVOI and luckily can afford the best supermarket offers. £ 30 a no ! As a retired GP living in a poor area where people's diet is appalling and highly processed it shows up the great divide between the haves and have nots. I sense a launch of polyphenol shots coming to another posh supermarket to join the bug shots and 30+ sprinkles. I do hope that at least some of the profits are going to fund further Zoe research.

[makumbolindo]

I tasted the best olive oil when i was in Lefkas, Greece. A local olive oil I never tasted before

[aprilbarrett]

When I was a child, my grandmother (who grew up in Bologna) hid the olive oil, which I happened to discover. When unobserved, I would retrieve it (not without difficulty) and drizzle it down a long rib of lettuce. It was so delicious.

[shamimraj]

Thank you for this great podcast and giving us a scientific lesson on Olive Oil and the health benefits we get from it. I will certainly apply myself better to it and think about the many things covered here when purchasing, storing and using it. Thanks again for an insightful and inspiring discussion.. 🙏

[WHISTLEPEG]

Thank you Zoe. I love your videos and podcasts and follow your advice. I am a senior on a fixed low income. I do not spend my money on pre-packaged, processed foods or meat. Therefore I can afford good quality olive oil, lots of fruits, vegetables and legumes. If people actually followed your advice and stopped wasting money on unhealthy "food" they would more likely be able to afford to buy and eat better quality healthy food. Just sayin'...

[AlaOM]

This was fantastic! I’m in the US where we can get quality olive oil from California. Thank you so much, and Jonathan I want to say a special thank you to you for always thinking of questions that your listeners and participants are also wondering about. It shows that you really are quite conscious of all of us, and that means a lot ❤

[andrewharrison]

I have been buying oil from Aldi which is from Puglia and comes from a legally defined region with PDO status called Terra di Bari - “Castel del Monte”. Seems to have the desirable characteristics described by the panel, and was, until recently (in the UK) £3.79 per half litre. Pretty good eh? However it is shame that this video has been posted at a time when there is a crisis in olive production due to disease and climate which has led to the prices rocketing putting it out of the reach of ordinary people 😢