Olive Oil Increases Testosterone & Lowers Cortisol

Blog Entry #63

By Admin – Steroidal.com

Olive oil shouldn’t need a lengthy explanation, but it’s a certain type of dietary fat or monounsaturated fat. Olive oil is a widely used dietary food mainly produced in Spain and used more commonly by Mediterranean’s.  It has a wide array of health benefits including; lowering the risk of heart disease, strokes and other circulatory problems, total cholesterol and LDL (bad) whilst increasing HDL (good) cholesterol, inflammation, cancer risks and is a potent anti-oxidant.

First, lets break olive oil down a bit as we’re going to look at a specific polyphenol. Olive oil contains polyphenols such as esters of tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol, including oleocanthal and finally oleuropein and this is the polyphenol we’re going to look at more closely today.

We recently blogged about garlic when rodents were given garlic extract they had a higher concentration of testosterone and lower cortisol. The same Japanese researchers wanted to looked oleuropein and its effects on the same hormonal markers. The study was done recently in 2013 where rats were given a protein rich diet and some were given oleuropein.

The rats were split into three groups. Each had food containing 10, 25 or 40% protein (Casein) for 28 days. Half of the rats in each group were given food containing 1g oleuropein per kilogram of bodyweight.

Using a similar model to the study done in 2001, the Japanese researchers tested the rat’s nitrogen retention. They did this by examining the number of nitrogen molecules in the rat’s droppings and urine. The more nitrogen retention in the body, whether that is rodents or humans, indicates that the body is building proteins (muscle). Anabolic steroids known to enhance nitrogen dramatically is Deca-Durabolin and Dianabol.











The figure above shows the amount of nitrogen the rats retained. In the rats given oleuropein, the rats retained 46% more nitrogen than those that didn’t in the highest protein group.










Testosterone and cortisol was also monitored and it was seen that oleuropein supplementation created a favourable anabolic effect. In the group were rats at the largest amount of protein, the rats testosterone level tripled and cortisol was reduced by more than half.










The Japanese speculate that the increase in testosterone is down to an increase in leutinizing hormone (LH). This increased secretion of LH may be a consequence of the higher adrenalin and noradrenalin levels caused by the oleuropein and a particular compound called aglycon.

They conclude, “Oleuropein supplementation enhances protein anabolism and suppresses protein catabolism owing to hormonal regulation by the stimulation of steroid hormones via noradrenaline, leading to a higher testicular testosterone level and a lower plasma corticosterone level in rats fed a high-protein diet”.

Limitations are that this is a rodent study and may not be applicable to humans, but we think it hold merit. Olive oil should already be part of your daily diet, whether you’re male, female or a bodybuilder or athlete. The health benefits of olive oil are huge and it may also prove to create an anabolic effect in humans.

