What's inside olive Oil, and where does it go in your body?
Mostly monounsaturated oleic acid; extra-virgin oil also keeps polyphenols from the olive.
Notable for
Monounsaturated fat, vitamin E, polyphenols.
Evidence
Diets rich in olive oil, like the Mediterranean pattern, are associated with lower cardiovascular risk; the PREDIMED trial supported this.
Evidence & sources
In the PREDIMED trial, a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil was linked to fewer major cardiovascular events than a reduced-fat control diet. Evidence: moderate. Known: A large randomized trial in Spain, re-analyzed and republished in 2018. Unknown: Tested the whole eating pattern, not olive oil alone; participants were at high cardiovascular risk. Source: Estruch et al., New England Journal of Medicine, Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet (republished) (2018).