Olives and More
These are just a few of the increasingly dramatic claims that are being made for the daily consumption of olive oils with high levels of polyphenols. Sometimes these claims are also accompanied by eye watering prices. So how justified are these claims and prices?
In fact the European Union does allow health claims to be made for extra virgin olive oils containing 250ml/kg or more of polyphenols. The benefit is usually taken to be “towards the prevention of coronary heart disease” from consumption of 20g of these oils every day. On the face of it this all seems fairly straight forward, but the claims being made often go a lot further than this. The EU ruling does not include youthfulness, longevity etc! Some claims also infer that the more polyphenols there are in the oil the better that oil will be for you. Actually there is no research to substantiate this idea. These particularly high polyphenol oils also tend to be most expensive. This is because the olives are harvested very early and yields can be low. Prices can be as much as £50.00 for a 500ml bottle.
Looking at the high polyphenol oils on websites, it is not always easy to tell how legitimate the claims being made are. The actual polyphenol levels are not printed on the labels. You might assume that any brand stating that their oil is particularly healthy or are better than the competition would be able to back up their claims with certification from an accredited laboratory and put this on the label.
Unfortunately it is not as simple as this. The polyphenol level of an oil deteriorates over time so that an oil which qualifies for the “high polyphenol “ description as it comes off the press but may not do so after a year or so. This deterioration could be as high as 40% and research shows that the higher the polyphenol level at the beginning of the season the faster it deteriorates. It is possible that the 1000mg polyphenol oils oils may not stay at the levels claimed in oils which are not sold until the end of the season. Thus any polyphenol level printed on a label would have to be changed every so often.
A number of producers do indeed take this deterioration into account and use oils for their high polyphenol offerings which are well above the 250mg qualifying level even though they may be described as being nearer to the benchmark. In this way they are reasonably sure that the oil will continue to offer levels above the benchmark for at least a year and maybe for the full time of its use by date. Because of this problem there are those who think that the polyphenol content requirement is too low.
I am often asked if you can tell a high polyphenol oil by tasting it. The answer is “not with any degree of accuracy”. However, as a general rule of thumb high polyphenol oils have plenty of pepperiness and probably some bitterness and the general level of fruit intensity is likely to be high. The higher the level of polyphenol in an oil the more robust it will be and some of the really high level oils can be exceedingly strongly flavoured.
Berry muffins
Finally, from a personal point of view, olive oil is not a medicine, it is a really healthy food which should be enjoyed and used to add flavour and interest to all our meals. By all means have a tablespoonful from time to time if you feel you are not having enough in your diet but better still widen your use of olive oil to include more vegetable dishes, desserts, bread and cakes made with olive oil. The polyphenols in the oil will interact with the nutrients in the food to provide even more accessible nutrients.