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How to avoid fake olive oil in your diet

October 10, 2016

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Most health-conscientious people have switched to olive oil in their diets. This is due either to a personal educated option, or to the adoption of the mainstream trend. Influenced by mass media or not, they risk buying fake olive oil without knowing it. But we will first summarize a few olive oil facts.

The superior health-related qualities of olive oil are indisputable. However, there are a couple of mentions that are worth making:

  • Olive oil is disputed when it comes to frying and cooking. Some insist that it is one of the safest oils for preparing food via high and medium temperatures. Others recommend olive oil just for shallow frying. More precisely refined olive oils, since they begin to smoke at higher temperatures than extra virgin olive oils. A more outdated point of view that somehow turned into a popular myth claims that, when heavily heated, olive oil can become toxic.

The sensible approach

even without going through all the evidence brought by each of these opinion groups, would be to consider the highly beneficial role of raw olive oil. Try to integrate it into your diet as such, since thermal processing reduces the positive health effects. In addition to this, going on exclusively olive oil-based cooking increases the costs, since this gourmet option is more expensive than other oils (such as old-school fats or sunflower oil).

  • Olive oil is not always what is seems. This reality reflected in a 2015 study that generated the allegation that 80 percent of the olive oils on the market in USA are in fact counterfeit. In order to have a comparative idea, on the Italian market the rate of counterfeit olive oil is somewhere around 50 percent. Prior reports dating back to 2014 and 2010 reflected a similar situation which seems to go on relatively undisturbed.
  • Olive oil reflects the region of origin. In the fortunate case where you actually bought a bottle that does not contain mixed oil, regardless of its source, you are able to sense differences in flavor, consistency and perhaps different health effects. Although choosing the best kind of oil depending on its source can be a matter of taste, it is nevertheless true that consuming your favorite products enhances their effects. In this case, their beneficial effects. Therefore it depends on each buyer to establish whether their favorite olive oil is the Greek one, the Spanish one or the Italian one, after they have tasted all three in their authentic form. Nevertheless, there are sources that try to raise above the matter of personal taste and decide which olive oil is the best, as you can see here.

Fake olive oil or authentic olive oil – how to determine which kind of olive oil you bought?

This step remains a dilemma. Apparently distinguishing between counterfeit/fake olive oil and the real one is not a matter of taste. At least the majority of sources do not venture into claiming it is.

The attempts of self-proclaimed taste-testing experts seemingly failed. Therefore the tasting method is highly disputed. Of course, you may like a certain brand of olive oil, but this is not an infallible argument for its authenticity. Fake olive oil does not necessarily present unpleasant taste.

The same source mentioned-above dismisses the fridge method. The myth claimed that putting the olive oil into the fridge makes only real extra-virgin olive oil cloudy and thick; as it turns out, the fake oil does the same. A similar fate has the oil lamp test. Claims that authentic olive oil should keep an oil lamp burning, while adulterated oil shouldn’t be able to do so don’t stick. When the olive oil has been multiplied by using another oil that burns, the results are inconclusive.

Others prefer to go by the brand. Here is an example of dual listing – fake brands versus authentic brands of olive oil, “according to UC Davis Olive Center”. Assuming that the tests were accurate, buyers can use such orientation lists within certain limits.

What to do when your store features neither of the brands from such lists? 

Another viable choosing method consists of buying locally produced olive oil. Trusted sources can replace viable testing methods. Therefore, if there are any in your area, use them for your necessary olive oil supply.

Drinking one teaspoon of raw olive oil might serve for another authenticity identification method. Real extra-virgin olive oil feels stingy at the back of the throat. Here is an article that explains why. It all has to do with the TRPA1 receptor, a protein located at the back of the throat. Its function would be to signal noxious chemicals, but it also reacts to anti-inflammatory substances. For some reason, virgin olive oil reads as an anti-inflammatory for the TRPA1 receptor.

Also check this scientific paper that supports the above relationship between extra-virgin olive oil and feeling the sensation of pungency. Pungency is the result of  “oleocanthal (major phenolic compound in extra-virgin olive oil) and ibuprofen (…) commonly experienced around the world when consuming many extra-virgin olive oils”.

*I have had this reaction when tasting Greek extra-virgin olive oil. It actually contains more polyphenols than oil of other origins, so the reality matches the theory.  However, there are different types of authentic olive oils. Not all of them have the same concentration of polyphenols, therefore you may use this method to identify fresher, more acid oils. It might be difficult to separate more refined real olive oils from counterfeit ones on the basis of how pungent they feel.

The best approach

would be going local. Alternatively, researching the brand you have chosen (if the first option is not available). Also, keep the balance when it comes to olive oil, as well as with any other wellness and nutrition element. Less is more when improving your diet. This way, even if you mistakenly use fake olive oil sometimes, it will not risk endangering your health. And remember that its raw form is more beneficial. Raw olive oil makes it easier to detect unusual taste or flavors.