Olive Oil Warning: Holy smokes!

[mollyanne]

Holy Smokin' Olive Oil, Batman! Am I the last one to know this??? That popular HEALTHY Olive Oil turns to saturated fat (trans fat) when heated to high temperatures! I just learned this while reading about the Blue Zone of Icaria where centarians use a ton of olive oil...but warn to drizzle it on AFTER your food is cooked. I'll be posting this youtube in the thread about this soon...called "Anti-Aging Nutrition Foods". That's huge...am I the only one who somehow missed this?

For the last 6 months I've been addicted to Amy's American Veggie Burgers which I fry up in a smoking hot cast iron skillet with screaming hot olive oil because I like that crispy almost burnt exterior...like a grilled flavor. I add melted cheese, tomato, roasted garlic, Greek Yogurt, and topped with chopped fresh chives. I'm always so pleased to think how healthy it is....not!

 

[forty_caliber]

I had heard this before and found this article after a bit of searching.

From The Olive Oil Source:

Myth: Heating Olive Oil Will Make it Saturated or Trans-fatty.
One common myth is that heating olive oil will make it saturated or trans-fatty.
This is not true. As far as making a saturated fat, according to Dr. A. Kiritsakis, a world renowned oil chemist in Athens, in his book Olive Oil from the Tree to the Table -Second edition 1998, all oils will oxidize and hydrogenate to a tiny degree if repeatedly heated to very high temperatures such as is done in commercial frying operations. Olive-pomace oils and virgin olive oils are both highly monounsaturated oils and therefore resistant to oxidation and hydrogenation. Studies have shown oxidation and hydrogenation occurs to a lesser degree in olive oil than in other oils. But in any case, the amount of hydrogenation is miniscule and no home cook would ever experience this problem.

• Why Olive Oil is Good for You
  • Heart Disease
  • Cholesterol
  • Cancer
  • Diabetes
  • Blood Pressure
  • Arthritis
  • Asthma
  • Weight Control

.40

 

[Claire]

I hate to say this, but I don't pay much attention to these health warnings. In my lifetime, depending on what age you chose, certain foods (eggs and liver come to mind) have gone from healthy food (eat it, it's good for you!) to it will kill you, and back again ... several times! Eat a little of everything, and keep moving on. Humans were born to be omnivores.

 

[ChefJune]

It is well known (or it should be) that olive oil has a relatively LOW flash point, compared to other common oils we cook with. Heating olive oil to a "screaming hot" point is not a good idea as you can start a fire. When you want to cook like that, peanut oil is probably your best bet.

However, no, olive oil doesn't turn into saturated fat.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I use my EVOO as a finish for dishes cooked in canola. Cooking the EVOO, you lose that delicate olive taste when you want it!

 

[Andy M.]

Time for a Rant

OK, where is it? It was here a minute ago. Anybody seen a wooden box with an Ivory Soap label on it?

Ah, here it is. (climbs onto soap box)

First of all, this is not an attack on mollyanne or .40 or anyone else. It's my generic "don't believe everything you read on the internet" rant.

I have become very skeptical about "facts" found on the internet. Because people are inclined to believe what they see in print (or hear on TV) the internet can convince folks of just about anything.

First of all, I don't ever consider "facts" on product or food association websites. So if an olive oil association site tells you, all that bad stuff they say about olive oil is bunk, I ignore it. Of course they have an expert that supports their statement. Someone else has an expert that thinks olive oil is poison. I look for more reliable sources for substantiation.

Then there are the experts-for-hire sites like Dr. Mercola and others. Their willingness to float any bizarre claim for a buck is harmful to products and a disservice to the public.

Attacks on canola oil, aluminum pots, Teflon and others are not supported by facts but instill fear or at least doubt in consumers who then avoid a product "just to be on the safe side". If you've ever made that type of decision about a product you may very well have been tricked into avoiding a perfectly good product by that product's competitors.

This is what "facts' have evolved into in our society. In foods, it's the stuff I've referred to, in politics it's mud slinging. I say, you deny it. Who do you believe. It's easy to distort facts because 99.9% of the populace doesn't check the statements for factuality.

The snopes.com website is a good source for verifying some internet stuff but they can't cover everything.

If it sounds scary or bizarre, choose to disbelieve it until it's verified by a reputable source.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Hear! Hear! Andy!

The best thing I got out of my college education was learning how to research, sure the nursing license is nice, but I do my best work after research, research, research!

The second best, learning how to say, "I don't know." and then teaching myself.

 

[mollyanne]

This thread has taken an interesting turn toward myth-or-not-myth. I wasn't expecting that. It would have made a better poll but who knew . thank you everyone for your interesting responses.

My information came from viewing a youtube by the author, Dan Buettner, of the best-selling book, The Blue Zone and his research team in the Greek Isle of Ikaria. Buettner's research was featured on the cover of National Geographic and largely funded in part by AARP.

One of his researchers was a doctor by the name of Dr. Archelle Georgiou who stated in the video that "science has shown that olive oil reduces heart disease and cancer but exposing healthy olive oil to high heat turns it into into a saturated fat".
(who is she?... Dr. Archelle Georgiou - Podium Prose )

Here it is (the comment is toward the end at 3:00. Total time is 3:46):
.
YouTube - Blue Zones Ikaria Day 3

 

[Claire]

Andy, bravo! I'm tired of different foods being declared unhealthy, then healthy, then killer unhealthy, then the next craze. The latest one I saw was that heavy drinkers (and I count myself as one) live longer than moderate or non-drinkers. Now, give me a break. Even I'm not that delusional. Anything I read or hear when it comes to food I take with a huge grain of salt. And there's an organization that always over-states the obvious. They've come out with butter is fattening (talking about movie popcorn), sweet and sour pork is bad for your heart, etc; all of which you'd know if you took a home ec class when you were a teenager.

 

[GrillingFool]

But heavy drinkers DO live longer....
because God takes care of drunks and fools!!!

(humorrrr, ark ark)

Seriously, I completely agree with you Claire!

 

[mollyanne]

Andy, bravo!...Anything I read or hear when it comes to food I take with a huge grain of salt.

So ya'll are saying "you take this"...team of researchers and doctors who are supported by AARP and National Geographic who make a comment based on scientific research ...."with a HUGE grain of salt"? Are you including my post #8 ?

If you read Andy's post again you will find that Andy was talking about claims made on the internet by competing product companies. He was not speaking against facts found by legitimate researchers and scientic studies from reputable sources as mentioned in my post #8
.

 

[Andy M.]

When I hear a conditional statement, it grabs my attention.

"...which can turn your healthy oil into saturated fat..."

Words like "can" and "may" are signals that the statements aren't 100% true. If you dig into the links .40 gave, you read that a minuscule amount of sat fat is created and that the degree of heat and other conditions necessary to create this minuscule amount requires conditions not generally available to the home cook.

If this is accurate, the initial statement, while factual, is very misleading and doesn't tell the whole story. It also does not invalidate all the other research findings.

 

[mollyanne]

Yes, the internet links from .40 were very interesting indeed.

 

[Andy M.]

Yes, the internet links from .40 were very interesting indeed.

...but they were posted by an olive oil association so should be taken with a grain of salt. They may or may not be substantially true.

 

[Barbara]

I use my EVOO as a finish for dishes cooked in canola. Cooking the EVOO, you lose that delicate olive taste when you want it!

Ditto

 

[justplainbill]

Because we find olive oil can become bitter when overheated, we limit our cooking use of olive oil to frying eggplant, as a tenderizer on pizza rounds and in slowly simmered spaghetti sauce.

 

[forty_caliber]

Generally speaking, if it involves a skillet it has some olive oil in it. If it goes out on the smoker it chances are it got drizzled with olive oil before I seasoned it. If it's a loaf a bread olive was used for shortening. It's our oil of choice and usually bought by the gallon. Not the only oil kept in the house but it is a staple.

Physical evidence exists that olive oil was used in commercial trade in 3500 BC....

The earliest surviving olive oil amphorae date to 3500 BC (Early Minoan times), though the production of olive is assumed to have started before 4000 BC.

.

Is it possible the scientists are right...yes. Is it possible they are wrong...yes. Is it possible the results are biased...a big resounding yes.

Staggering numbers of generations over the long course of human history involving many cultures have used this oil. It seems to me that it is one of earths original "whole foods" and we will continue using it freely in our home.

.40

 

[PrincessFiona60]

I grew up with Olive Oil...Long before it became a "food fad," it's the oil of choice here, too...unless I'm frying, then I use canola or peanut.

 

[DaveSoMD]

But heavy drinkers DO live longer....
because God takes care of drunks and fools!!!

(humorrrr, ark ark)

I thought he took care of fools, little children, and ships named Enterprise.

 

[Zhizara]

I agree too. I'm 64 and retired. If I'm lucky I may have another 20 years, but I doubt it. I moved away from Florida to get away from all the people and stress I had lived with there. I spend my time trying to live as stress free as possible.

I smoke and have no intention of trying to quit. No lectures, please.
I eat what I want without thinking about fats, cholesterol, whatever.

The last 20 years of my life were extremely stressful, and I feel I deserve my retirement to be as stress free as I can make it.

I watch TV, surf the internet, crochet, decorate my new place. I read too. I love to come up with new recipes, taking ones I've used before and morphing them into something new.

I avoid people who seem to go out of the way to find things that can kill you. Life can kill you. You can run scared of all these things, then you get hit by a truck. Why worry.

Whenever I find myself worrying I think how it doesn't really matter in the long run, then I wonder if I'm just enjoying worrying like some people do. That usually does the trick and the worry goes away.

Keep on keeping on and keep smiling.