Health Benefits

Olive oil’s health benefits have been studied so much that they are now widely recognized. In fact, it is hard to keep up with all the articles about scientific evidence for extra virgin olive oil’s ability to help prevent and cure diseases. Followed by links to some of the clearest, most useful recent articles, this summary of the main benefits can help.

Growing up in China, Frank Hu followed a traditional Asian diet. Now the chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, Dr. Hu researches the benefits of extra virgin olive oil and the traditional Mediterranean diet and enjoys a fusion of Asian and Mediterranean cuisines.

The 30th anniversary of the official publication of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid was commemorated as part of World Olive Day on November 21, 2024. Honoring the pioneers and organizations that promoted this initiative three decades ago, this event brought leading public health experts to Madrid, Spain to share their insights about the Mediterranean diet.

Scientific research indicates that high phenolic extra virgin olive oil (HPEVOO) can play an important role in combatting many diseases. At the 2024 Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards ceremony organized by the World Olive Center for Health (WOCH) in Athens, scientists presented some of the latest results of research on HPEVOO that WOCH has supported.

The international recognition of high phenolic extra virgin olive oil and its disease-fighting properties was the focus of the 9th Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards ceremony on June 27 in Athens, Greece. With more than 600 olive oil samples tested for health-protecting natural phenolic compounds at the University of Athens this year, over 250 were awarded.

With the Mediterranean diet ranked the “Best Diet Overall” by U.S. News & World Report for the 7th year in a row in 2024, it is a model for healthy eating. In fact, it is even more. It goes beyond food to include various aspects of the traditional Mediterranean way of life. Resembling other traditional, healthy lifestyles, it is easy for many to embrace.

Ranked the “Best Diet Overall” by U.S. News & World Report for the 7th year in a row in 2024, the Mediterranean diet’s health benefits are well known. But what exactly is this diet, and can everyone follow it? Harvard Professor Frank Hu has suggested that fusing it with a traditional Asian diet may make the Mediterranean diet more beneficial to more people.

At the Cretan Lifestyle Conference in Rethymno, Crete in November, Dr. Magda Tsolaki shared several types of evidence from a clinical trial to support her claim that extra virgin olive oil is “more promising than any drug being studied or any drug which already has been approved” for prevention of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as being safe and ready to use.

Headlines worldwide praise the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. At a conference on the Greek island of Crete, international experts emphasized what many have agreed on for years: the foundation of this diet was discovered in the culinary tradition of Crete decades ago. Scientists argue that this tradition still offers a wealth of benefits.

What is high-phenolic olive oil? It pops up more and more on social media, websites, and news articles, yet it is usually not clearly defined. A Greek scientific team seeks to change that. They analyzed more than 5700 olive oil samples over 11 years, then proposed a definition of “high-phenolic olive oil” partly based on how long its healthy phenols last.