Why Do People Love Olive Oil?

Olive oil is widely touted as a health food, but not everyone knows why. Even among nutritional experts there is some controversy.

You might think that olive oil is healthy because it contains low amounts of saturated fat. While it is nothing like milk butter or coconut oil, it contains about the same as corn and soy oil, and actually significantly more than canola oil. (If you're buying "vegetable oil" in the store, it's probably one or a combination of these three.)

What it does have is a large amount of monounsaturated fat versus polyunsaturated fat. For a long time I didn't really think there was much difference between the two--I figured polyunsaturated fat was maybe better just by the way it sounded. Some polyunsaturated fats are very good--the "omega-3" variety that I've been advocating lately are polyunsaturated fats. However, some polyunsaturated fats are not so good--they're known as omega-6 (don't ask me why they're called that; I don't know the biochemistry). When your ratio of omega-6 to omega-3 fats gets higher, you become more prone to disease. A high 6:3 ratio has been linked to body-wide inflammation, which in turn causes a host of conditions, from arthritis to asthma, from cancer to cardiac arrest, from stroke to...well, you get the picture. Olive oil isn't radically low in omega-6's, but it does beat out most other common vegetable oils.

As for monounsaturated fat, pretty indisputably and simply, leads to good health in higher consumption. Olive oil is about three-quarters monounsaturated fat.

Additionally, olive oil contains high amounts of antioxidants, which also aid in reducing inflammation. The jury's still out on how big of a role antioxidants play in disease, however. I'm not convinced that people who are healthier after consuming antioxidant-rich food aren't just healthier because they've been eating better in general. If you are looking for especially antioxidant-rich olive oil get the best quality (extra virgin) you can.

If you aren't convinced by the evidence that saturated fat is not as bad as people crack it up to be, olive oil is your best bet for a fat source. High monounsaturated fat, low omega-6 fat, high antioxidant. And personally, I think it's the tastiest.

Nevertheless, what does our evolutionary history suggest to us? Do you think our ancestors had the factories we require to extract canola, soy, corn, and olive oil? Fattening vegetables like avocado or coconut (which, by the way, contains a high amount of saturated fat) might work for certain cultures. But if you're stuck in the woods and hungry, you're not going to get fat from squeezing seeds. You're going to eat meat. You're going to get a lot of saturated fat, a lot of monounsaturated fat, and more omega-3's than omega-6's. That is what we're designed for.

They said butter was bad and gave us margarine. Then they realized trans fats were bad so they tweaked it a bit. It's a matter of time before they realize that omega-6 fatty acids are killing us and vegetable-based spreads and oils are simply no good.