Olive Oil 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.

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 9^th 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.

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.

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.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved a controversial drug that may slow cognitive decline in patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. Uncertainty about the drug’s efficacy and cost and concern about the possibility of serious side effects led three FDA advisory committee members to resign. Could extra virgin olive oil do better?

The Liokareas Olive Oil Company’s High Phenolic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) won first place at the 2020/2021 World’s Best Healthy EVOO Contest in Spain, tied with an EVOO from Chile. Three other Greek companies, Eirini Plomariou, G Team, and Therianos Family, also ranked among the top ten healthy EVOOs at this unusual international olive oil competition.

The first study to use human volunteers to test the ability of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) to delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease has yielded exciting results. It shows that a long-term diet rich in EVOO containing a medium to large amount of natural phenolic compounds can help protect against Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment.

We know we should eat nutritious foods to stay well, especially during the coronavirus pandemic. Many also realize extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) offers numerous health benefits, so it can play a vital role in a healthy diet. While no food has been proven to prevent or treat COVID-19, some evidence suggests EVOO could help us combat the novel coronavirus.

“Some scientists say olive oil should be considered only a food, but the market seems to disagree,” said Prokopios Magiatis. He joined other olive oil experts in Delphi, Greece at the 2nd International Yale Symposium on Olive Oil and Health in December to discuss the impressive flavors, many uses, and promising health benefits of extra virgin olive oil.

At the Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards conference in Athens, Greece in May, Dr. Khalid El Sayed discussed his research group’s groundbreaking discoveries: oleocanthal, a natural phenolic compound found in extra virgin olive oil, reduced the recurrence of one type of breast cancer in mice and limited the growth of other types of recurrent tumors.

The Olympia Health and Nutrition Awards ceremony in Athens spotlighted high phenolic olive oils and evidence of their ability to help fight many diseases. For example, groundbreaking study results announced there suggest that high phenolic olive oils help combat at least one type of leukemia, breast cancer, mild cognitive impairment, and Alzheimer’s. 

With 2500 entries, the 2018 Olympia Health & Nutrition Awards included more samples than any other olive oil competition in the world. Yet this was not its major claim to fame. Most olive oil contests focus on panel tests of flavor and aroma, but the Olympia Awards emphasize extra virgin olive oil’s health benefits and scientific evidence of these benefits.

The International Olive Council, the largest and oldest global intergovernmental olive oil and table olives organization, partnered with the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) Olive Center to present impressive evidence for olive oil’s health benefits at an International Conference on Olive Oil and Prevention of Chronic Disease on January 17.

Results of a recent scientific study of mice at the University of Louisiana at Monroe suggest oleocanthal rich extra virgin olive oil deserves to be designated a “medical food.” Researchers led by Dr. Amal Kaddoumi demonstrated for the first time that this type of olive oil can treat symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease in mice when used in their daily diet.

Animal studies have suggested extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) may help fight off Alzheimer’s disease. Now the Greek Association of Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders and Yanni’s Olive Grove have begun a clinical trial in humans to evaluate the effect of EVOO on amnesic patients diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment, which leads to Alzheimer’s.

At a workshop for Greek olive oil producers in Chania, Crete, Dr. Prokopios Magiatis and Dr. Eleni Melliou of the University of Athens discussed the health benefits of important phenols in olive oil, as well as the economic benefits some of the healthiest extra virgin olive oils in the world could bring their producers and the steps required to make them.