The Best Olive Oil to Drink Daily - Our Recommendation

We think the two most important factors when selecting an oil to drink everyday are the health benefits it can provide, and the taste. These two factors happen to be linked in a very specific way.

When it comes to the taste of an olive oil there are three factors to consider, fruitiness, bitterness, and peppery notes. All three of these factors should ideally be balanced in a high quality oil, leaning into one factor or another depending on your goals or preferences. The healthiest components of olive oil are the polyphenols—and these have a big influence on the bitter and peppery aspects of taste.

In order to balance the positive health effects with taste, we recommend around the 500 mg/Kg range for polyphenols. There is plenty of evidence in the research to show that this level of polyphenols is capable of providing a positive health effect—see this study for example—finding a beneficial effect with only 320 mg/Kg. One thing to note though, polyphenols naturally degrade over time—especially after the bottle is opened, so we find at least 500 mg/Kg is a nice level to add some leeway. This will ensure you still get enough of an effect to improve health markers over the life of the bottle while easily maintaining balance in the taste so it’s not too overpowering and you actually stick with the healthy daily habit.

Aside from taste, there is not yet convincing evidence in the science that extremely high levels of polyphenols (750mg/Kg+) are actually providing a bigger and better health effect. You can have too much of a good thing, so for long term consumption we think oils in the ~500/600mg/Kg range provide a great all-round daily option.

All this being said, olive oil producers have concentrated more on bringing extremely high (1000mg/Kg+) polyphenol oils to market. This can be a good thing for you as a consumer, as you need to consume less oil per day to achieve a polyphenol dose capable of imparting health benefits. For an oil like this, we recommend lowering your daily dose to between a teaspoon and a tablespoon.

Our Recommendation

Tin of ONSURI Arbequina

We think the ONSURI offer the best all round products for drinking daily, and they have two notable options for this, the higher of the two: SP360, and a slightly lower polyphenol Arbequina.

SP360 comes in at 1711 mg/Kg - and this is a great option for those that are already used to the bitter and peppery notes of a high quality oil, or those just looking to maximise the health benefits. SP360 was built from the ground up as a polyphenol focused oil. SP360 comes in a striking powder blue bottle that protects your oil from sunlight, looks great on your kitchen counter, and it's refillable - you only have to buy once. You can then re-fill with letterbox friendly yellow pouches offered by SP360.

The Arbequina offers a more ‘Fruity’ (think fresh and grassy) option at 1504 mg/Kg, for those that still want health benefits but in an oil that is slightly easier on the palate—a good option for an everyday high polyphenol oil.