Do you use olive oil in your cooking? Did you know that heating olive oil destroys many of it’s heart-healthy properties? Let’s take a look at why:
This post is in direct response to a question I asked my readers last week. I asked what their favorite oil to cook with is. And I was surprised at how many folks responded with “olive oil.” So I just wanted to share a little of what I have learned along the way about cooking with fats.
I’m not an alarmist. Nor do I believe that if you cook with olive oil that you are eating tons of free radicals that are going to kill you. I just think that there are better choices when it comes to cooking fats and oil. Leave your olive oil cold and unheated.
It is my opinion that saturated fats are the best fats to use when cooking. This has to do with the molecular structure of oils. Saturated fats contain no double bonds so are not sensitive to heat, light or oxygen, unlike unsaturated fats. Unsaturated fats (vegetable oils) have double bonds, making them very sensitive to heat, light and oxygen. Heating these types of oils will change their molecular structure, destroying many of the healthy properties.
For those looking for a plant-based oil for cooking, I also think that avocado oil is also a good choice because of it’s high smoke point – which is about 520’F. It has a higher smoke point than olive oil and preserves its nutrients at higher temperatures.
5 Reasons to STOP Cooking with Olive Oil
1. Good quality extra virgin olive oil is expensive, and the delicate nutrients should be protected. There are so many better options for cooking.
Because olive oil is loaded with so many health benefits, I choose to not cook with it. It’s not cheap to purchase good quality EVOO, and I don’t want to waste any of the magical nutritional benefits. I find that saturated fats like ghee, coconut oil, and tallow (and avocado oil as well) are much better choices for cooking.
2. Heart-healthy polyphenols in olive oil are easily damaged by heat:
Olive oil has phenolic compounds that are rich in antioxidant properties. These phenols, which work as antioxidants to preserve heart health, begin to degrade at high heats. Recent studies show that phenols and polyphenols in EVOO—for example, hydroxytyrosol or luteolin —are not stable to heat and degrade relatively quickly. For example, when heated in a container over a flame for only 5 minutes at a temperature of 461°F/188°C, one study has shown 50% loss of hydroxytyrosol and 69% loss of luteolin.
3. Heating olive oil destroys Omega Fatty Acids:
Olive oil contains both Omega 3 and Omega 6 Fatty Acids. According to Dr. Mercola, omega-3 fats are “significant structural components of the cell membranes of tissues throughout the body and are especially rich in the retina, brain, and sperm, in which docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) constitutes 36.4% of total fatty acids”.
These fatty acids are sensitive to heat and are destroyed when olive oil is heated. I have not been able to find the exact temperature at which omega fatty acids are destroyed but find it a good practice to not heat them at all to preserve their nutritional value.
4. Low smoke point=breathing in toxic smoke.
If an oil is heated beyond its smoke point, it gives off toxic smoke. Because olive oil has a low smoking point, cooking with olive oil runs the risk of creating smoke that contains compounds that are harmful to human health. You may not even notice that you are breathing in this toxic smoke.
5. Many olive oils are not REAL:
Many brands cut their olive oil with cheap oils like soybean oil, canola oil, hazelnut oil and low grade olive oils. A study by UC Davis in 2011 found that 73% of the 5 best selling imported brands of olive oil did not meet the international sensory standards for extra virgin olive set by European regulators. This meaning that they could be adulterated or blended with other vegetable oils such as soy, corn, cottonseed, hazelnut, or canola oil.
So what I am saying is that the olive oil you are using may not be REAL olive oil and may contain heavily processed vegetable oils that contribute to inflammation in the body and are possibly GMO. YUCK!
I have done a ton of research, and the only brand of olive oil that I buy is Kasandrinos. It is a small, family-owned business with high quality olive oil. Never adulterated. Always organic. Be sure to check out Kasandrinos HERE.
So, what to do?
Olive oil is a healthy and delicious oil. Just don’t use it for cooking. It is wonderful in salad dressings and dips and can be drizzled over already cooked vegetables. Read my post on Top 5 Healthy Fats in the Kitchen.
Choose saturated fats for cooking, not unsaturated. Fats that I recommend cooking with:
- coconut oil
- ghee
- lard/tallow
- avocado oil
Does this list make you nervous? Did you know that saturated fats are actually good for you? Read more here:
- The Truth About Saturated Fats
- The Skinny On Fats
- The Oiling of America
- Why Vegetable Oil is Not Healthy
- The Ugly Truth About Vegetable Oils
- Is Your Olive Oil Fake?
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Sources:
- http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=dailytip&dbid=261
- http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0963996913002421
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The professional cooking community has be saying for a decade plus not to use Extra Virgin Olive Oil for cooking. If you want to cook with Olive Oil, there are last press oils that are more stable under heat.
This may be true. However, I still think saturated fats are a better choice for cooking. 🙂
For those of us concerned about health, i think this is bad advice. I notice that there is no real detail concerning toxic smoke. This sounds like a typical ploy tp steer the gullable back to unhealthy cooking since some of these companies have seen profit loss.
Hi, there! I am going to have to kindly disagree with yo here. It is a myth that saturated fats cause heart disease. You can read more here—> http://chriskresser.com/new-study-puts-final-nail-in-the-saturated-fat-causes-heart-disease-coffin
I love olive oil but prefer it cold and uncooked. I use these instead—> https://savorylotus.com/top-5-healthy-fats/
And other processed vegetable oils are not an option as they are unhealthy and inflammatory. You can read more about that here—-> http://www.thankyourbody.com/vegetable-oils/
Thanks for coming by! 🙂
Hi Katja,
I came across this blog post and I had to leave a reply. I am an internal medicine physician in Houston, Texas, practicing outside of residency for 5 years now. I practice mainly hospital medicine and critical care. I have to tell you, I am deeply saddened at this misinformation. There have been countless studies dating back decades about the effects of saturated fat and atherosclerosis, peripheral arterial disease, cardiac disease, stroke, and cancer. Internists, cardiologists, bariatric surgeons, and many dietitians in the healthcare field will tell you that is it beyond clear the association exists between saturated fat and preventable disease. Please take this down or correct it, as many readers may actually take your advice as gospel. I see and treat these preventable diseases related to diets high in cholesterol and saturated fat everyday. I’m sure you would cringe if you knew your advice was potentially contributing to these silent killers. Please make sure your sources are reputable and backed by real science in randomized controlled trials in peer-reviewed journals. Thanks.
Hello, Dr Wells.I am going to have to respectfully disagree with your comment here. When you talk about being backed by real science and peer-reviewed journals, I am going to have to ask you to take another look at the research that you base your ideas and beliefs upon. There is much recent evidence to debunk the old and outdated ideas that saturated fat and cholesterol are the big villains that they have been made out to be. Unfortunately, medical schools have not caught up with the currents thoughts. I am happy to share some information that you may find interesting on the subject. If you do not know who Chris Kresser is, he is a very respected and thorough researcher and practitioner that has been for years peeling back the truth on the subject.
https://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy/
https://chriskresser.com/healthy-fats-what-you-need-to-know/
You may also find this book interesting and eye opening—-> https://amzn.to/2tVnMCT
While I respect your desire to help your patients, I have to also use my common sense. People are sicker now than they have every been. As we have moved away from traditional diets (many high in saturated fats), people have become even more unhealthy. There are numerous studies that suggest that low carb diets (which tend to be high in saturated fats) not only don’t raise blood cholesterol, they have several beneficial impacts on cardiovascular disease risk markers. People in our culture eat a lot of carbs and this has had a very negative effect on health. Nutritional definciencies, inflammation, disrupted gut flora, and high blood sugar levels are a much bigger problem than eating some eggs and butter.
I think there is much more to this conversation. And we are all unique individuals. We all respond differently to different diets. And blaming saturated fats and cholesterol on the cardiovascular crisis we are having is short-sighted and incorrect. If this was the case, we would be seeing people heal and get better, but unfortunately, people are just getting worse as doctors continue to give false information. I research a lot and have seen many many many people in my own life benefit from transitioning to a real food, whole food, traditional diet that does include saturated fats and other healthy fats like coconut, olive, avocado, etc. If you take a look around, people are not well. And it is NOT because they are eating saturated fats. It’s living a sedentary life, eating too many processed carbs and sugar, and being exposed to endocrine disruptors every day all day. I get that changing gears is hard. But at some point, physicians will have to get on board and admit that eggs and butter and beef are not the issue. Those are real foods. The UNREAL foods void of nutrition that people consume daily are the problem.
Want to know more? This article has some good references at the bottom. https://blog.bulletproof.com/is-saturated-fat-bad/
Extra virgin olive oil is like REVENGE: a dish best served COLD
Hi Katja,
While I respect your rights to be entitled to your own opinion, I am disgusted by the misinformation and the illogical arguments that you present here.
People are not getting sicker, and definitely not getting sicker because of consuming unsaturated fat instead of saturated fat. I would be surprise to see any peer-reviewed studies in medical sciences suggesting that. Human life expectancy has been rising dramatically and will continue to rise, thanks to developments in the medical field. Due to lower mortality rates, more people who would have died due to diseases in earlier years have survived into adulthood with some conditions. Those conditions probably have given you a wrong sense of “people getting sicker”.
Also, Kresser is an acupuncturist, not a REAL doctor or researcher in any of the sciences. He is also anti-vaxxer and cholesterol denialist. He doesn’t even know how to read a scientific paper and most often understands them incorrectly. Citing from him will damage the credibility of your blog. Unless you enjoy spreading misinformation and harming people, I kindly suggest you take down this whole blog.
Cheers,
J
Hmmmm… Where do I begin? OK, you have the right to your opinion. I totally respect that. But the truth is that humans ARE sicker than we’ve ever been. Over-weight, endocrine issues, cancer, heart disease, auto-immune issues. And these are not issues of just old age. Increased life expectancy doesn’t mean people are living well and healthy. I’m and RN, and I can certainly tell you that people are not living well. And discrediting me bc you don’t like Chris Kresser shows where your mind is at. I’m not even sure where to go with that. I have spent my entire adult life in the health care industry and am allowed to have my opinions based on the science that I see. That’s what my platform is about. Feel free to take it or leave it. Have a blessed day. 🙂
YEAH I WILL IGNORE THE ADVICE OF A MEDICAL DOCTOR and medical researchers, and listen to some random woman or blog on the internet (NOT). That would be as crazy as listening to nuts who say do not vaccinate. Fortunately I am not nuts. I will avoid saturated fats that turn solid at room temperature & block arteries
Hi, Dave-
We are all free to have our own opinions. I LOVE olive oil but prefer to eat mine cold and unheated for best health benefits. And the truth about saturated fats is not just my opinion and has been proven over and over again my science, researchers, and doctors. There is so much varying advice out there, I know. We just have to decide for ourselves what works for us. I’ve done a lot of testing on myself and have found that my cholesterol and triglyceride levels (meaning my cardiac health) is much better when I am eating animal products and using ghee as my main fat. I tested it over the past year and my triglycerides went WAY up when I went more plant-based and didn’t eat much red meat of ghee. We are all unique and what works for me may not work for you. I think saturated fat has been demonized and I get that people are afraid of it. I works for me and many other people that I see and work with. 🙂
There is even more scientific studies proving you wrong. You will literally be making people sick with your advice.
EVOO smokes at 410 and that’s the most sensitive the OO’s (never cook with EVOO anyway, in my opinion)
If you’re submitting your food to even higher temperatures you’re doing it wrong
I guess I had to hear it one more time, or maybe it was the way you said it.
It’s information that we’ve all known for a long time but I would cheat here and there and use it for cooking. Thanks for the refresher, and the detailed information about saturated fats. And I do love the softly sweet smell of cooking with coconut oil.
I love coconut oil too. Save the olive oil for salad dressing. Thanks for reading! 🙂
SMoke point of olive oil is 450 degrees (or higher). There’s no reason to avoid using it, since virtually all recipes are only half as hot. Gordon Ramsay, Joel Robuchon, etc all use olive oil in their cooking. Clearly they think it’s good
.
This is what I have found for olive oil smoke points: Olive Oil:
Unrefined 320 F
(Good Eats) 375 F
Extra Virgin* 406 F
Virgin** 420 F
Olive Oil* 438 F
Pomace Oil** 460 F
Extra Light* 468 F
I’m Greek and here olive oil has been used in cooking since like forever… We in my family cook always with olive oil because flavour is an important factor.There is no mediterranean cuisine without olive oil. Lentils, beans, stews, pitas, casseroles if cooked without olive oil are just not the same, not my granma’s recipe. BUT we never use olive oil when frying, it’s considered too heavy, the taste and the smell are overwhelming when olive oil is heated that much. Plus here we have decent olive oil, the price range on the self corresponds to the quality. There are studies from european institutions that rate the three top olive oil producing countries with flavour and quality being thepoint of reference.Greece comes first, followed by italy and spain.Sorry for such long a reply but i know people cooking with olive oil since forever who are now more than 100 years old. Just wanted to share my thoughts!
I appreciate your reply. I know that olive oil has been used for a long time. I bet you guys have really great quality over there. I wish we could know for sure what was in the olive oil that we can buy here in the States. I just prefer to use saturated fats for my cooking. My olive oil stays cold. Thanks so much for stopping by:)
How do we know which olive oils are REAL?
That’s a really good good question. Unless you know the source personally, there is no guaranteed way to know. I have been buying from a local source who has let me visit their farm. There are some online articles that claim you can tell by putting it in the fridge and if it totally solidifies, it’s real. Not totally certain this is accurate. That’s why I stick with my ghee and coconut oil.
I own an olive oil specialty store and we have certifications on all our olive oils and that’s how you can tell they are real. The certifications show the chemical content of the oils and when the olives were crushed. I wouldn’t trust what is in the grocery store but trust the specialty oil stores. They can prove it!
As for cooking with olive oil, I disagree with you. As long as you do not cook over medium high heat, you start the food at the shimmer stage of the oil heating, and you do not overcook your food, it is perfectly fine. It is only in large commercial kitchens that frying with olive oil has ever created trans fats in olive oils and it is not a concern in the home kitchen. While you do not have the same optimum health benefits of olive oil eaten raw, it is a heck of a lot better than using canola oil, vegetable oil, and other man made oils.
Thanks for your input. I am so glad to hear that there are people who stand behind their product. I wish all olive oil was REAL. 🙂
So I have used butter and olive oil pretty much interchangeably, oops. That will probably change now. But what about using grape seed oil for cooking? Where does that fit and is it pretty much the same thing as olive oil?
I consider grapeseed oil a HIGHLY processed oil that is often heavily extracted by chemical process and then deodorized. I’m not a big fan AT ALL. It is VERY low in nutrients and high in omega 6 oil, which can lead to more inflammation as it throws off our Omega3:Omega6 ratio. My suggestion would be to stick with healthy, natural fats like ghee and coconut oil. Read more here—-> http://authoritynutrition.com/grape-seed-oil/
Thanks for stopping by!
The best oil for cooking is palm oil. Tropical traditions offers a good palm oil, as well as coconut oil. If you use olive oil, don’t use virgin for cooking. Use plain olive oil that has a much lower polyphenol content. Personally, I like bacon fat the best.
Isn’t palm oil horrifying for orangutans?
What about macadamia nut oil? I have read it has great health benefits. I put it in smoothies, but have never cooked with it. Do you know if the nutrients are destroyed with heat like olive oil?
Jennifer~
I haven’t used it myself, but according to this it seems to be a good choice —-> http://www.marksdailyapple.com/macadamia-oil/#axzz322EmS700
I may have to give it a try!
Hmm, that was an interesting read, really made me think about using some other kind of oil. In your opinion, is coconut oil a good replacement? I wanted to try it out for a long time, maybe it’s the perfect time to change.
I love coconut oil! It works great for cooking. But sometimes the flavor does not go with what I am cooking so I use other fats like ghee, tallow, or bacon fat. Here are my favorite fats to use—> https://savorylotus.com/top-5-healthy-fats/
I have never read even once by a Doctor that Olive oil can be BAD for you. I agree it should not be heated to a hot temperature but to go so far to encourage people to use lard butter and other high saturated fats is harmful to the general public. Are you a Doctor? My parents used bacon fat and lard for all there cooking and both died of heart problems. I use olive oil and canola oil only for all my baking and frying. I am 77 years old with low blood pressure good cholesterol readings low weight and extremely active. I will keep my present life style
HI, Karen! We can agree to disagree. There is more and more evidence that traditional fats are much better for us than processed vegetable oils. I do not think olive oil is bad for you at all. I just don’t cook with it. I prefer to save the good qualities by keeping it cold. 🙂
I learned not to cook with olive oil way back in organic chem 10 plus years ago. When heated up too much the chemical composition changes and it is no longer healthy for you. Olive oil using at room temperature on salad or vegetables after they are cooked but it should not be heated to high temps! Want a doctor that agrees? Look up Gundry.
Yours is an interesting list of effects of heating olive oil. But I think everyone is missing the real point your list makes:
Unless you heat it beyond the smoke point, heating olive oil makes it a little “less good”; it doesen’t make it dangerous.
I consider that you have five things that happen when olive oil is heated but none of them are a reason to stop cooking with it. I also use it in my home-made salad dressing.
I a linking to your article when encouraging people to use high heat oils for cooking! Thanks Katja!
Thanks, Tessa! 🙂
So many nay sayers here trying to discredit the article… so sad. An Italian once laughed at me and said Americans are crazy for cooking with olive oil when I told her I did. This article is correct and the olive oil industry was caught in a scam of selling gmo canola, soy and other unhealthy oils as cold pressed olive oil. And cooking with it destroys its healthy benefits. So why do you insist on wasting your money when there are healthy choices to cook with?
excellent article. the naysayers are just arguing to their own detriment. If they would research it they would know you are right.
I was trying to find your sources of information and both links provided the page is not found so before I believe anything so that I can truly argue it and maybe spread good information, I would like to see where I can get real information about this. I don’t want to hear it from another blog I want to hear about this from science from research from actual experiments. I’m tired of believing things at face value. Journalism on the internet can be done by anybody it is basically all fiction until it can be backed up by proof. Just looking for the truth here guys
Hi, Vanessa! I will check out broken links as soon as I have time. What exactly would you like the source of information on. I am happy to share any sources that I have.
I completely agree with Vanessa and also with Dr Wells previously. I don’t believe in taking blogs at face value. Anyone can write a blog, and provide links to other blogs. Please provide links to reputable sources, that are peer reviewed, published by a reliable organisation, etc. Trusting an article on somerandomfoodblog.com doesn’t fly with me, sorry. I will start to trust that “saturated fats really are good for you” once I have read that this conclusion has been drawn from trustworthy professionals following a large, well-controlled trial from reputable sources.
You are totally allowed your opinion. There is actually a lot of research that shows that saturated fats are not the enemy and that low fat diets are not healthy. You can get some good info here:
https://chriskresser.com/the-diet-heart-myth-cholesterol-and-saturated-fat-are-not-the-enemy/
Have a good day. 🙂
Good morning everyone,
I will invite both of you to read about this article. It is from a website recommended by Katja “chirskresser.com”
https://chriskresser.com/is-it-safe-to-cook-with-olive-oil/
Katja after reading it, please make the respective corrections about how valuable and safe is to cook with olive oil. This is a debate and my post is not based on opinion. The article you saw includes scientific facts, please understand this is a post where people can educate themselves about important topics like the olive oil in the kitchen. If you disagree, please do it using the facts of the article, not just your opinions.
So, because the olive oil is safe and a great oil for cooking, please, make the respective corrections in this post. Many people are reading it and the have to read the right information about how valuable is to cook with olive oil.
Thank you.
Cheers!!!
Hi, Lea! I have seen that article. And I still stand by what I write. You can read my reasons why in the article. It is my opinion that olive oil is best suited for cold applications in order to preserve the amazing qualities of the oil. You have the total right to disagree. You do you. I keep my olive oil cold. And we consume a lot of it around here. There are far better fats to cook with.
Maybe you should check out this link:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/is-olive-oil-good-for-cooking#fat-content
and maybe this link as well:
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/11-proven-benefits-of-olive-oil#section1
This information was taken from experiments, so you might find this a little helpful.
I feel that you are misguiding a lot of people. My family lives on farm, so we do use a lot of bacon grease. However, I would not consider very healthy for you. I use more olive oil than anything, and you never mentioned facts. The only thing you said over and over in this post was your opinion, or what you thought. I need more facts than your opinion to believe this.
Rebecca- There certainly is a lot of varying opinions on this topic. If this does not resonate with you, then it doesn’t. I share what I have learned and what works for me. I am not afraid of saturated fats AND I LOVE olive oil. I just prefer not to cook with it. And that is what this article is about. 🙂
I disagree with some of information here. You choose some research and not many others that showes that it is save for cooking and that minor degree of degredatiin of ant oxidants occurs.
You are totally allowed to have your opinion. This is my blog and these are my opinions. Feel free to disagree. 🙂
Telling people they are allowed to have their own opinion and stubbornly sticking to your own (which is not based on scientific fact) does not make you right. I was glad to see that some people were willing to respond with accurate information. The fact that you are able to post inaccurate information (which could be harmful to people who are willing to listen to you) is just plain scary. It also raises doubts about anything else you choose to write about as you appear to be an unreliable source of information.
Hi, Sandy. Again, you are allowed to have whatever opinion of me that you like. This is my platform, and I get to share what I want here. I’m curious to know what exactly what inaccurate information that I am sharing that could be harmful to people. I am here just to share what I know and have learned along the way. I can’t imagine anything about what I think about olive oil would hurt anyone. And I would never want to harm anyone in any way. I’d love to know what you mean. 🙂
Hello Katja! Thank you for your insightful information and the two replies from the Mediterranean area. I’ve been getting on my daughter for frying everything at a high heat in olive oil. The smoke fills the house. As I already have many health issues, I don’t need to be exposed to other toxins. She always says “well Gordan Ramsey” does this or that. Well he is a chief like my brother and they do not study the chemical reactions to foods and toxin exposure. The really appreciate your insightful “fake” over the counter olive oils. Sounds similar to the honey industry. 🙂
There is so much info to wade through. And we just have to make the best decisions for ourselves. I just do what feels best for me. 🙂
My family areGreek and own many olive fields. We fry everything in olive oil and have for hundreds of years, and the family history is mainly long living (although this is often down to genetics too).
One thing worth noting is if Any oil is smoking then the pan is simply too hot (hard with a steak I know), if this happens then the non stick will probably be gassing too which is totally toxic and more to worry about than what oil is being used.
My input would be if your a regular person (not super healthy) then watch your fat intake regardless of if its a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ fat, we all know saturates are required within reason now and not the evil they were once stated as, but, if you are a regular person then the best rule of thumb is too usually avoid saturates as you are probably eating enough without adding any through other foods from butter to processed fats.
Thanks for keeping the posts open for open-opinions.
🙂