Olive Oil – Just How Pure Is It?

The Mediterranean Diet has been praised for its longevity benefits, including a lower risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and stroke. These health perks are in large part due to olive oil, which is a staple of the Mediterranean Diet. The monounsaturated fats and polyphenols in olive oil have been shown to help strengthen heart health, protect against oxidative stress, defend against cancer and diabetes, and tame the inflammation response. But olive oil is only as healthy as the brand, and recent research has exposed the fraudulent nature of the olive oil industry.
Why Go Extra Virgin?

“Extra virgin” refers to the way the olive oil is manufactured. An olive oil with an extra virgin designation has been first cold pressed from freshly harvested olives without the use of any chemicals, additives, or heat. The result is the highest quality, unrefined oil with health-boosting nutrients intact.

Studies show that extra virgin olive oil lowers harmful LDL cholesterol and raises levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol. A meta-analysis published October 14, 2016 in Lipids in Health and Disease showed that olive oil lowered the risk for all-cause mortality by 23%, for cardiovascular incidents by 28%, and for stroke by 40%. Analyzing 32 studies made up of 841, 211 people, researchers attribute the heart-healthy benefits to both its high concentration of monounsaturated oleic acid and its exceptional polyphenol profile. In regards to this study, University of California at Davis scientists concluded that extra virgin olive oil “… is the only oil that is high both in monounsaturated fat and phenol content, and comparable health benefits would not be provided by other oils or foods.”

Unfortunately, you may not be getting any of these heart-enhancing blessings in your extra virgin olive oil. Experts estimate that 70-80% of imported olive oils are actually counterfeits!
Extra Virgin Olive Oil May Not Be All That Virgin

The International Olive Council (IOC) and United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) determine olive oil standards, but they do not enforce them, and the majority of extra virgin olive oil on the shelves does not meet the set requirements. A 2010 UC Davis report showed that 69% of imported extra virgin olive oils failed testing and were either:

Adulterated with cheaper refined oils, such as sunflower or canola oil

Defective in flavor and described as “rancid, fusty, and musty” with oxidation

Poor quality and extracted from overripe olives, not processed appropriately, and not stored adequately

In contrast, 90% of domestic California varieties of extra virgin olive oil were deemed authentic.

60 Minutes covered an exposé on Italy’s corrupt olive oil industry, which has been taken over by the Mafia. Your olive oil could really just be an industrial seed oil like safflower oil, with some chlorophyll and beta-carotene mixed in so that it looks and smells like olive oil! Other companies mask the counterfeit or rancid oil with deodorizing chemicals.
How to Make Sure Your Olive Oil Is the Real Deal

Olive oil fraud is nothing new. The earliest documented evidence of olive oil adulteration dates back to 24 BC in Syria, where court-appointed inspectors monitored olive oil processing facilities to make sure all standards were being met.

Guy Campanile, the Italian-American producer of the 60-Minute segment recommends purchasing Italian extra virgin olive oil from Sicily or Puglia. He also points out that if the bottle is just $7 or $8, chances are it’s too cheap to be true olive oil. You get what you pay for!

And if you are based in the United States, you are probably better off purchasing domestic, California extra virgin olive oil produced by small, family farms. Taste-test your olive oil at local farmers markets and specialty shops. It should carry the hint of olives and leave a pungent kick in the back of your throat as it goes down.

To make sure you get what you pay for, try the fridge test. True olive oil solidifies at 39 ° F due to its monounsaturated fats. If it doesn’t solidify, then it’s been adulterated with vegetable oils like sunflower oil, which are made of mostly polyunsaturated fats. However, this test may not be sufficient to determine authenticity, because high-oleic fatty acid versions of seed oils will solidify in the fridge. All it takes is a little further sleuthing to find an olive oil maker devoted to purity and taste.

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