Is Light Olive Oil a Bad Choice?

[kyarn]

I bought a lot of regular olive oil after getting rid of all seed oils. I looked on the back and saw that it’s made of refined oil and 15% EVOO. I was wanting use it to fry my eggs in, make mayo, and bake with. I know avocado oil is the best, but it’s very expensive. Is regular olive oil as bad as the seed oils?

[PaulL]

Pure olive oil is not bad, but a lot of olive oil on the market is adulterated with seed oils. If you trust that brand, then use the oil. On the other hand, olive oil has a fairly strong taste, which many people dislike, so why not fry your eggs in butter or bacon grease, and bake with lard?

MaDonald’s originally used tallow for frying their French fries, and the taste was apparently unparalleled. Then activists who feared saturated fat caught up with them, and they were forced to switch, first to trans-fats and later to seed oils, for frying.

[kyarn]

This one is Costco’s brand. It says refined olive oil and 15% EVOO. So it looks like it’s not mixed with any seed oils, but does the refining process cause it to be a bad oil? I like baking with it because of the texture it gives.

To answer your question about why I don’t want to use butter or bacon grease - I’m still dealing with cholesterol anxiety. I’m off statins and I just want to reduce me dairy intake and saturated fats to see what happens at my next blood draw. I know that isn’t the popular answer in the Keto community but it’s the truth. Since I actually like olive oil and don’t miss dairy, it’s worth the experiment.

[amwassil]

Light: Despite its name, light olive oil does not mean that this variety of oil has fewer calories or a lower fat content. Instead, this label refers to the oil’s lighter color and neutral flavor. Light olive oil is a refined oil, produced using heat after the first pressing of virgin oil. Rather than a deep green, light olive oil has a golden yellow hue. It keeps longer on the shelf and has a higher smoke point than other types of olive oil, but also has fewer nutrients due to the heat-pressing.

Refined: Refined olive oils undergo a second production after pressing. The refining process will often include the presence of heat or chemicals. Some refined olive oils introduce other types of vegetable oils into the mix as well, resulting in an overall lower-quality oil.

Source

PS: I experimented using olive oil (EVOO), light olive oil, extra light olive oil and avocado oil trying to make a mayo with acceptable taste. Failed. I have since decided that I don’t need to eat mayo. I have also decided that I don’t need to eat vegetable/fruit oils at all, other than red palm and red palm is borderline. I am currently convinced that sat fats, low MUFAs and especially low low PUFAs are the way to go.

[ctviggen]

To answer your question about why I don’t want to use butter or bacon grease - I’m still dealing with cholesterol anxiety. I’m off statins and I just want to reduce me dairy intake and saturated fats to see what happens at my next blood draw. I know that isn’t the popular answer in the Keto community but it’s the truth. Since I actually like olive oil and don’t miss dairy, it’s worth the experiment.

It’s not clear to me that saturated fat actually raises LDL or total cholesterol. In my case it has not, but the problem is that when we say an increase in “saturated fat”, what does that mean? If you eat a ribeye, do you get more MUFA or saturated fat (MUFA). Most meats, even meat fat (save maybe suet) are mainly MUFA.

I guess you’re raising saturated fat relative to…what? Olive oil is somewhere around 17% saturated fat, meat higher. But does that difference really mean anything to your health? I think so. I think saturated fat is the healthiest fat.

Like @amwassil, I’ve lowered my PUFAs as low as I can. I still eat pork and chicken, though. I can’t get away from those. I try not to eat added fats, and if I do eat them, I get them from sour cream or other dairy.

[kyarn]

Here is what I do know - when my total cholesterol was 369 and I was on a statin I was eating several eggs per day, lots of butter, HWC, and cheese. I want to see what happens when I replace some of this stuff with olive oil and give up most of the dairy.

[CFLBob]

When I went off a statin, it took 2 years for my lipids to normalize and come to consistent values. They went up without the inhibition of synthesis that the statin gave, then my body’s controls on how much cholesterol it allows returned them to just about normal.

In the last couple of tests, I think the only thing I see is I can raise my HDL if I eat a lot of saturated fat. Since low HDL was always my “problem,” I need to keep my saturated fat up.

As for light olive oil, we use a mix of light olive oil with the avocado oil in mayo and salad dressing (Caesar). We did a batch with EVOO and found it too strong for mayo. I’m sure that could be a matter of taste and some people would prefer it.

[PaulL]

when my total cholesterol was 369 and I was on a statin

There is actually very little evidence linking cholesterol level to cardiovascular disease, and quite a bit to show that it is not linked to CVD, including quite a few large studies funded by the U.S. government.

At best, some lipid numbers might serve as markers for cardiovascular disease, but it is not clear that manipulating the marker is the same thing as improving the disease (in fact, there are data to suggest that lowering cholesterol with drugs might actually make heart disease worse). One thing we do know, however, is that a low triglyceride number paired with a high HDL number (yielding a ratio under 2.0 or 0.9, depending on the units of measurement) is a pretty good indicator of low cardiovascular risk, regardless of the level of LDL or total cholesterol.

[OldDoug]

Refined: Refined olive oils undergo a second production after pressing. The refining process will often include the presence of heat or chemicals. Some refined olive oils introduce other types of vegetable oils into the mix as well, resulting in an overall lower-quality oil.

Dang it, now why do they have to use chemicals?

Light: Despite its name, light olive oil does not mean that this variety of oil has fewer calories or a lower fat content. Instead, this label refers to the oil’s lighter color and neutral flavor. Light olive oil is a refined oil, produced using heat after the first pressing of virgin oil. Rather than a deep green, light olive oil has a golden yellow hue. It keeps longer on the shelf and has a higher smoke point than other types of olive oil, but also has fewer nutrients due to the heat-pressing.

The higher smoke point is the thing for me - it really makes a difference.

In my opinion, it doesn’t taste nearly as good as regular olive oil or extra virgin olive oil, but if it’s just going to get heated in a pan, then what the heck?

Olive oil is somewhat of a minefield - lots of it does get other stuff added to it, and @PaulL made a good point about trusting the brand. It’s a real question anymore.

[anon81060937]

Please let us know. I would like to know if the fats end up in adipose or in muscle as intramuscular fat.

[kyarn]

I’ll post my lipid panel when I get it. I’m glad CFLBob mentioned that it took a few years for his to stabilize. I’ll keep that in mind when I see my numbers. So far after 15 months on Keto my total went from 302 to 212 to 369 in a matter of months. That tells me it’s a constantly fluctuating number. It seems reckless to put someone on medication based on a number at that moment. I took a statin for 8 years and suffered the side effects, not knowing it was the statin causing them.

[kyarn]

I was stoked to discover oil made from olives that had a neutral taste, so I bought 4 gallons. Now I’m wondering if it’s as bad as soybean oil. EVOO is supposed to be eaten raw and I just wanted something I could bake and fry with that didn’t cost a lot.

[OldDoug]

I’ve got 'Light Olive Oil" and find it great for frying. I’ve drunk a small glass of it, and it doesn’t really taste “bad” but just much “less*” than regular, mostly extra-virgin in my case, olive oil. If the ingredients list only olive oil, then what can you do? There have been instances of adulterated, fraudulent olive oil, but I see many brands where they admit it’s only 10% or 15% olive oil, and they call it “Refined cooking oil,” or (in small letters) “Cooking oil with” (then in big letters) “Olive oil.”

I wouldn’t suspect, right away, that what you have isn’t all olive oil. It’s a shame that there’s any doubt.

*The taste of olive oil isn’t for everybody. In regular or extra-virgin there’s usually a spicy/peppery/vegetal taste where some people think it tastes like “weed juice.” Others find it better, like raw vegetables and nuts, or a “grassy” aspect. That’s the taste of the good stuff - polyphenols that are strong antioxidants and anti-inflammatories. Nicely bioavailable, too, being dissolved in oil, rather than water.

[amwassil]

The ‘Olive Oil Scam’ was a scam perpetrated by a California oil producers group.

Keto Mayonaise Open Challenge

Bertolli’s rebuttal to the 2010 UCDavis report that included them. This is quite detailed: The North American Olive Oil Association Certified Quality Seal Program list of OK olive oils:

[kyarn]

I’ve been doing some research and I can’t believe I have to try and determine if I’m being defrauded by oil. One source says to make sure it only comes from a single origin and has a harvested date and not by a sell by date to determine if it’s pure. I’m still going to use what I have and when I consider I spent most of my life eating partially hydrogenated soy bean oil and I’m still alive, I’m sure this will be fine. I baked some muffins with EVOO and you can’t even taste it (it’s only 1/4 cup in the recipe). Then I had to worry if I could heat EVOO up to 350. So far I can’t find anything that says it’s unsafe to do so.

[OldDoug]

EVOO normally has a smoke point around 375° F or 190° C. In a recipe, I wouldn’t worry even if it went about that. The ‘harvest date’ thing is good, but I agree that you don’t need to worry unduly. I’m going to see what kind of olive and other oils they have tomorrow at a big Restaurant Depot store (like a Costco for restaurants).

Ugh, in reading about “olive oil scams” it does look like one should be vigilant…

[anon81060937]

Adulterated evoo smells rancid and is usually sold in dark bottles. Real evoo is green and stings the throat a little.

Bertolli is the only brand I trust after living in Italy.

[OldDoug]

The ‘Olive Oil Scam’ was a scam perpetrated by a California oil producers group.

Good work, Michael. I am somewhat relieved and I hope there’s really “nothing there.”

One source says to make sure it only comes from a single origin and has a harvested date and not by a sell by date to determine if it’s pure.

I do think fears of adulterated olive oil may have been overblown, per what @amwassil posted. I checked a Bertolli bottle today in one store, and it had a harvest date and a “best by” date - 2 years later. In past discussions and reading about the issue, I remember a spirited defense of Bertolli by a family member or somebody in the organization, that had the ring of truth to me. I wouldn’t worry at all, there.

The temptation would be there, though - to sell huge amounts of oil at higher prices just by calling it “olive oil” or “extra-virgin” etc. It’s somewhat like the varied and often hazy regulations about calling food products “organic,” for example. And manufacturing/advertising practices - “Contains 10% real fruit juice!” I have had some ‘olive oil’ that wasn’t too old, per the labling, and which I thought “tasted bad.”

3 brands - I’ve had the ‘Supremo Italiano’ before, and loved it. But none have certifications by other parties, nothing like DOP from Italy, “Denominazione di Origine Protetta.” Not much information on these three. Supremo Italiano does have a “use by” date on the top of the can.

Not always a list of ‘Ingredients’ - but I guess if it’s just “extra virgin olive oil,” then no problem. The Oilio does say:

The Nannina (packed in Italy) - I wonder about it the most.

So, the stated origin could be among 4 countries, and we’re really left taking their word about what’s in the can. I’ve gotten another, not shown, brand of olive oil in the same store, ‘Zaytun’ from Tunisia, that I also think is quite good. So, who knows? May not be much to worry about at all.

[PaulL]

Dr. Phinney says in a couple of lectures on keto living that he actually had a chemist friend test the olive oil sold under the house brand of the discount store where he shops, and it had the fatty-acid profile it was supposed to have. But such testing is not cheap, and a lot of us don’t have a handy chemist to turn to.

(P.S.—Just to be clear, “chemist” here refers to someone who does chemical analyses, not someone who dispenses medicines.)