Olive Oil: A Plant-Based Diet's Missing Piece

Olive oil is often touted as a healthy food, but it is not included in a whole-food plant-based diet. This is because olive oil is considered a highly processed food. During the process of extracting oil from olives, the original structure of the plant is compromised, leaving a nutrient-void, high-fat, calorie-dense ingredient with almost no fibre and hardly any beneficial nutrients from the original whole plant food.

A whole-food plant-based diet focuses on whole plant foods in their natural state or as close to their natural state as possible. These are the foods that keep the body healthy, lean, energised and free of illness and common diseases like type 2 diabetes. Whole plant foods boost the immune system, have anti-inflammatory power, and supply the body with huge amounts of antioxidants.

Olive oil is not a whole food because it is a liquid fat that has been extracted from a whole plant food. When you extract the oil, you leave behind the vast majority of the nutrients, and what remains is a very concentrated source of fat and calories with very few health benefits.

Olive oil is highly processed

The process of making olive oil involves crushing olives into a paste, then mixing or "malaxing" this paste so that the small oil droplets can combine into bigger ones. The paste is then spread on fibre disks and placed into a press. Traditionally, disks were made of hemp or coconut, but modern disks are made of synthetic fibres. Pressure is then applied to the disks, separating the liquids from the solids. Finally, the oil is separated from the vegetation water through decantation or centrifugation.

The process of turning olives into olive oil strips away the original structure of the plant, leaving a product that is high in fat and calories, with zero fibre, and hardly any beneficial nutrients. Olive oil is 100% fat and contains 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon.

The whole-food plant-based diet focuses on whole plant foods in their natural state or as close to their natural state as possible. This is because these foods are believed to keep the body healthy, lean, energised, and free of common diseases. As olive oil is considered a highly processed food, it is not included in the whole-food plant-based diet.

Olive oil is calorie-dense

Olive oil is a highly calorie-dense food. One tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil contains roughly 120 calories, which is more than twice the number of calories in a tablespoon of refined white sugar. Oil is one of the most calorie-dense foods there is. If you are watching your calorie intake, then olive oil should be too.

A whole food, plant-based diet focuses on whole plant foods in their natural state or as close to their natural state as possible. This is because these are the foods that keep the body healthy, lean, energised, and free of common diseases. Whole plant foods boost the immune system, have anti-inflammatory power, and supply the body with antioxidants.

When it comes to olive oil, it is better to eat the whole olive. Olives are full of healthy fats and, when eaten whole, these fats come packaged with vitamins, fibre, and nutrients—the whole package.

Olive oil is nutrient-deficient

Olive oil is a highly processed substance that has no nutrients. In the process of turning a whole plant food into oil, the original structure of the plant is compromised, and what's left is a nutrient-deficient, high-fat, and calorie-dense ingredient with zero fibre and hardly any beneficial nutrients from the original whole plant food.

Olive oil is extremely calorie-dense, with around 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. This means that it is easy to consume in excess, and since oil has zero fibre, the body absorbs it quickly and it is immediately converted into body fat.

The only type of fat that is healthy is that found naturally in whole foods, not that which is extracted through processing. Healthy fats can be found in nuts, avocados, and olives.

Olive oil clogs arteries

Olive oil is often touted as a healthy food, but is it really?

Olive oil is a processed, concentrated fat extract and thus has lost most of the nutritional value of its original form (the olive itself). If you want nutritional value, you will find it by eating the whole olive—not by consuming it in its almost unrecognizable extracted oil form.

The bottom line is that the fats we need should come in nature’s original package—whole plant foods!

To evaluate whether or not olive oil is indeed heart-healthy, we first need to understand a few facts about vascular biology. The vessels in our entire cardiovascular system are lined with highly functional endothelial cells. These cells provide a barrier between the blood and the rest of the body tissues and are involved in blood clotting, the formation of new blood vessels, and recruitment of immune defense cells. Impaired endothelial function is considered an early event in the development of atherosclerosis, and is seen in patients with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary artery disease, and type 2 diabetes.

A noninvasive method to test endothelial function is Flow Mediated Dilation (FMD), which uses ultrasound to measure flow-mediated changes in the diameter of the brachial artery. Healthy endothelial cells will respond to a stimulus by releasing nitric oxide and causing the brachial artery to dilate, while unhealthy cells will not. In other words, the level of dilation, measured via ultrasound, is a good indication of the overall health of the vessels in the cardiovascular system.

Not surprisingly, significant FMD impairment can be seen after someone smokes or eats a lot of fat, sugar, and/or salt in a meal. FMD impairment is also detected when someone suffers from mental stress or a chronic disease like high cholesterol or diabetes. So what is the effect of olive oil on FMD? All oils, both animal and plant-derived, tend to worsen endothelial function. Within hours of ingesting fat, arteries stiffen and the ability to dilate is impaired. A 1999 study measuring FMD after the ingestion of high-fat meals reported a “three-hour decline in FMD after subjects ingested a traditional meal of a hamburger and fries or cheesecake. Olive oil was found to have the same impairment to endothelial function as the rest of these high-fat meals.” And a 2007 study showed a similar detrimental effect on endothelial function after the intake of olive, soybean, and palm oils.

In addition, it appears that olive oil can contribute to atherosclerosis. Atherosclerosis is the narrowing of blood vessels due to the buildup of waxy ‘plaques’—clumps of fat and debris—along the vessel walls. The vessels become narrow and rigid, making the heart work harder to deliver oxygen to our bodies and increasing the risk of heart attacks. To make matters worse, the fat in the plaques is easily oxidized, releasing dangerous free radicals that further damage blood vessels.

When comparing baseline with one-year follow-up angiograms in people with coronary heart disease, saturated animal fat, monounsaturated (olive oil) and polyunsaturated fats were all associated with significant increases in new atherosclerotic lesions. The lesions stopped growing only by decreasing all fat intake—from whatever source.

Many argue that olive oil is a better alternative than other saturated fats. While there is some truth to this (olive oil does appear to cause relatively less damage than saturated animal fats), it is important to note that ‘less damage’ is still damage. The scientific evidence clearly shows that olive oil plays a role both in damaging blood vessels as well as forming atherosclerotic plaques. ‘Causing less damage’ is a far cry from ‘promoting heart health’ as so many people believe is the case with olive oil.

The bitter truth is that, as Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn points out, “Between 14 and 17 percent of olive oil is saturated, artery-clogging fat—every bit as aggressive in promoting heart disease as the saturated fat in roast beef.”

If you are just starting on your plant-based journey, keeping tiny amounts of extra virgin olive oil may help you enjoy your starches and veggies more and guarantee that you ‘stick’ to the diet. It is indeed better than using other oils or fats, and much better than continuing to eat a standard American diet. However, if you want to continue to improve on your plant-based diet and make it predominantly whole foods, the recommendation is to stay away from olive oil altogether—even the extra virgin variety.

Olive oil is not a whole food

Olive oil is often sold as a health food, but plant-based nutrition science suggests it should be kept out of your diet. Olive oil is a processed, calorie-heavy, nutrient-deficient fat source. While it may be better for you than oils from animal products, it is still not a whole food and is not included in the whole-food plant-based lifestyle.

The whole-food plant-based diet focuses on whole plant foods in their natural state or as close to their natural state as possible. These are the foods that keep the body healthy, lean, energised and free of illness and common diseases like type 2 diabetes. Whole plant foods boost the immune system, have anti-inflammatory power, and supply the body with antioxidants.

The reason olive oil isn't included in the whole-food plant-based diet is that it is considered highly processed. During the process of turning olives into olive oil, the original structure of the plant is compromised, and what's left is a nutrient-void, high-fat, calorie-dense ingredient with zero fibre and hardly any beneficial nutrients from the original whole plant food.

Olive oil is 100% fat and contains 120 calories and 14 grams of fat per tablespoon. Because it has zero fibre, the body absorbs it quickly, and it is immediately converted into body fat.

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