No Study Gives Heated Oil a "Green Light "

We feel confident in telling you that no research study has given a "green light" for the use of Extra Virgin Olive Oil (E.V.O.O) in cooking. In fact, the most comprehensive review studies in this area show that certain desirable features in E.V.O.O can be quickly lost through cooking. For persons deciding to use E.V.O.O in cooking, some studies specifically recommend that this oil only be added close to the end of the cooking process.

In the public press, there has been a good bit of confusion over E.V.O.O and cooking, because studies also show that E.V.O.O has some preferable cooking characteristics in comparison to other oils. In other words, if you have already decided to cook with a plant oil, there are some definite advantages to E.V.O.O versus other plant oils. For example, a key feature of E.V.O.O is its high monounsaturated fatty acid (M.U.F.A) content. E.V.O.O gets a reasonable amount of "thermal resistance" (protection from breakdown by heat) from its high M.U.F.A content. Studies show that the overall degradation of E.V.O.O by heat is less than many other cooking oils, including sunflower oil, high-oleic sunflower oil, canola, and peanut oil. So with respect to cooking oil comparisons, the studies show that cooking with E.V.O.O may be better  than cooking with these other oils.