Your daily olive oil: taken as a shot or added to food?

There are two schools of thought on this - either take the olive oil straight from a spoon, or drizzle it over your prepared food.

You wouldn’t really want to cook with an expensive high polyphenol oil as - even though cooking with regular olive oil is fine - longer cooking times and high temperatures can reduce polyphenols. Not too much of a problem with a regular, run-of-the-mill olive oil, but for a more premium, high polyphenol oil - you’ll want to maximise its health benefits by keeping it raw.

A Daily Shot (or Spoonful) of Olive Oil

There’s just one problem with this method - the taste. Olive oil is not just an ingredient with a wide array of health benefits, it has a rich history of different cultivars (olive varieties) that each offer a unique taste profile. It’s true that higher polyphenol oils usually come with a more bitter, peppery aftertaste, but this is preceded by the more fruity or grassy notes in the oil, and these can really play their part in enhancing the taste of your food - especially once you’re used to it. You can still experience the taste of the oil from a shot or a spoon, but the bitter, burning sensation at the back of your throat that comes with these high polyphenol oils will be that much more pronounced. Yet, drizzle it over food and this effect becomes a lot more muted and manageable.

Not to dissuade you on this method too much, as many people find it the best and most convenient way to get their daily dose of polyphenols. Some people form a routine and take the oil in the morning for example, along with other tablets and medications.

Drizzling the Raw Oil on your Prepared Food

Adding the oil as the final step before you eat your meal is arguably the more ‘natural’ method. The taste is less strong, and you might find it easier on your digestive system. You can still add measured amounts of oil. For example, one teaspoon per meal if you’re interested in calorie control or dialling in your polyphenol dose. Or, you can just drizzle more on meals you think the oil complements, and reduce or forgo the oil altogether when it’s a less conventional pairing.

There is some evidence too for some synergistic effects between olive oil paired with food. Olive Oil has been found to reduce the glycaemic response in diabetic people when consumed as part of a meal.

There is also evidence that the use of olive oil can improve the bioacessibility and bioavailability of the food alongside it. In one study, the process of cooking in olive oil moved polyphenols from tomato, onion and garlic into the olive oil. This process makes the extracted polyphenols easier for the body to absorb once eaten than if they remained in the food itself.

In the end, you should pick whichever method works for your lifestyle. As there are benefits from either method, the most important thing is to build olive oil consumption into a long term habit.

Comment below with your thoughts or if you have a slightly different method of taking your olive oil.