Is Your Extra Virgin Olive Oil Even the Real Thing? - TigerLily Wellness & Acupuncture
In recent years, news outlets such as 60 Minutes, New York Times, and others have run stories on imposter Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Increased global demand for EVOO has exceeded supply. At the same time, new technology, global trade, and climate change have affected the harvest, production, and distribution chain for the oil. Finally, the rise of the agro-cartel caused the olive oil industry to succumb to fraudulent activity. The result is consumers around the world paying a high price for “extra-virgin” olive oil that has been “cut” with less expensive, toxic and highly inflammatory oils (such as sunflower* and canola*), or colored with chlorophyll to make it look authentic.
*Most oils on the shelf are rancid and toxic to the body by the time they’re bottled. Stay away from them. The ones that we eat and suggest to our patients are clean, authentic EVOO, Avocado Oil and Coconut oil.
Also, be aware of these factors when selecting EVOO:
“The Olive OIl Scam” Forbes.com. Accessed 13 March 2021: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ceciliarodriguez/2016/02/10/the-olive-oil-scam-if-80-is-fake-why-do-you-keep-buying-it/?sh=2fdfb4a9639d
Moskin, J. “The World of Olive Oil Is Murky. Here’s Help for the Home Cook.” New York Times (2019, online) Accessed 14 March 2021: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/30/dining/best-olive-oil.html
CBS.com “60 Minutes Overtime: Don’t Fall Victim to Olive Oil Fraud.” https://www.cbsnews.com/news/60-minutes-overtime-how-to-buy-olive-oil/
Tressera-Rimbau, A et al. “Dietary Polyphenols in the Prevention of Stroke.” Oxidative medicine and cellular longevity vol. 2017 (2017): 7467962. doi:10.1155/2017/7467962 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5674514/
Martinez-Gonzalez, M. A. et al. (2018). “Mediterranean diet and life expectancy; beyond olive oil, fruits and vegetables.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5902736/
Sánchez-Villegas, A., et al. (2011). “Dietary fat intake and the risk of depression: The SUN project.” http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0016268
Santangelo, C., et al. (2018). “Anti-inflammatory activity of extra virgin olive oil polyphenols: Which role in the prevention and treatment of immune-mediated inflammatory diseases?” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29141574/
Olive oil. (2019). https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Olive oil and olive-pomace oil grades and standards. (n.d.). https://www.ams.usda.gov/grades-standards/olive-oil-and-olive-pomace-oil-grades-and-standards