There is an old Cretan saying: “Το λάδι είναι το αίμα της γης.” It means, “Olive oil is the blood of the earth.”

That tells us a lot, about both the inherent richness of olive oil, and the importance that it had—and continues to have—in the lives of the people of Crete, and throughout the Mediterranean.

Olive oil is not just the primary fat in the Mediterranean Diet; it is a symbol of centuries-old traditions, deeply rooted in Mediterranean culture. Known for its rich composition of monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs), polyphenols, and other beneficial bioactive compounds, olive oil in the context of Mediterranean culture has long been associated with good health and longevity.

Crete, where my family roots lie, and where I conducted ethnographic case studies, is among the highest olive oil consuming places in the world. And the people on this island are well known for their longevity.

Lifeblood of Crete

My great aunt Argyro, who lived most of her life in Lakkoi—a mountain village on the western part of the island–lived to be 107 years old, never took any medication, and was physically active up until the age of 101. She and the others I included in the studies were present at the time when Dr. Ancel Keys was doing his original 7 Countries Study.

According to statistics from the 1990s. Cretans use up to 31 liters of olive oil per person annually. That translates to about 5.7 tablespoons per person per day. More recently, the Association of Cretan Olive Municipalities (SEDIK) put the average per capita intake at roughly 27 liters (25 kg). Which is still at the top of the worldwide averages, and is significantly higher than the average for people in other parts of Greece. And that’s really saying something because Greece is the world’s top olive oil consuming nation. The average is about 13 liters per person per year. For comparison, consider that people in the US consume around 1 liter per person per year, and Canadians 1.5 liters.

Cretans use olive oil for marinating, preserving, cooking, frying, baking, and finishing. I see this personally. Olive oil disappears really fast when my mom, a native of Crete, is cooking at my house.

Global Health Impact

Decades of scientific research have confirmed and quantified what Cretans and other Mediterranean peoples figured out centuries ago: a diet rich in olive oil reduces inflammation, enhances cardiovascular health, promotes longevity, and much more. 

Study after study for the past half century places the Mediterranean diet, with its emphasis on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, among the world’s healthiest eating patterns. It is consistently ranked as the “best overall diet” by the U.S. News & World Report. And it owes much of its health success to the generous use of high-quality olive oil.

The message about the benefits of olive oil, and the Mediterranean diet have definitely gone global.

Dr. Ancel Keys and his influential 7 Countries Study had a profound worldwide impact. One of Keys’ findings was that Cretans had the highest consumption of olive oil, and also the lowest rates of heart disease, cancer, and all-cause mortality.

I am currently partnering with the Yale School of Public Health on my own patient-based study on olive oil consumption and its impact on advanced cardiovascular biomarkers. Hopefully our data will add to what we know about incorporating olive oil into individuals’ diets here in the US.

The “Mediterranean” message has really hit home with a lot of people, prompting millions to shift toward Mediterranean style eating patterns. Consequently, worldwide olive oil consumption has soared in recent decades.

According to the International Olive Council, global olive oil consumption ranged from 1.5 to 2 million metric tons per year throughout the 1970s. Today, that has roughly doubled to 3.0-3.2 million metric tons. In the US, we now intake roughly 400,000 metric tons per year, making us the largest market for olive oil outside the Mediterranean region. But China, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and India are also catching on. Culinary use of olive oil has risen in all of these countries over the last 20 years.

Antidote to “Fat-Free” Fad

The popularization of Dr. Keys’ 7 Countries Study has no doubt resulted in better health for many people. But like many trends, it has had an unintended downside. Keys’ data emphasized the health risks associated with saturated fats, and the importance of lowering intake of saturated fat. Food industry marketers glommed onto that message, giving rise to the “low-fat” and “fat-free” food movement. For the most part, this was based on broad misinterpretation of the study, and poor understanding of the different types of fats.

“Low fat” messaging resulted in a huge increase in consumption of processed foods, many of which contain lots of added sugars, salt, and other things that are not good for health. Without appropriate nuance and understanding, ordinary people embraced the notion that “all fat is bad.” That is, of course, untrue, and taken to an extreme it becomes very unhealthy.

The rapid growth in popularity of the Mediterranean diet and the concurrent global demand for olive oil has also, unfortunately, had a negative impact on oil-producing regions. Even a small percentage uptick in a massive country like the US or China can have a huge effect in places like Greece, Italy, and Spain where most of the world’s olives are still grown.

Quality is Key

To meet the demand, production has become more industrialized and the oil itself more highly processed. These economic pressures, combined with an onslaught of Xylella fastidiosa—a bacterial infection that has ravaged olive-growing regions—have created a lot incentive for adulteration and fraud. In fact, olive oil has unfortunately become one of the most adulterated food products in the world.

Sadly, a lot of the oil on the market today has little in common with what my Aunt Argyro was eating for all those years.

That said, I’m glad to report that there has been a strong counter-trend. In recent years, we’ve seen an explosion in the number of top-quality olive oil producers I’m honored to be part of Women in Olive Oil, a global organization founded during the Covid pandemic, that brings together women farmers, oil producers, researchers, chefs, importers and exporters, and olive aficionados who are passionate about quality oils.

WIOO’s goal is to “improve the way we farm, consume, transport, access, research, teach, and market olive oil.”

Challenging the Misconceptions

In countries where widespread use of olive oil is a fairly recent phenomenon, many people hold a lot of misconceptions about it. These beliefs can limit peoples’ ability to gain the myriad benefits of this exceptionally nutritious food. So, let’s address five of these common falsehoods. 

#1–You Can’t Fry with Olive Oil Because the Smoke Point is Low: Many people believe that olive oil has a low smoke point, making it unsuitable for stovetop or deep frying techniques, which require temperatures in the range 350-375°C. This is untrue.

Extra virgin olive oil’s (EVOO) smoke point actually ranges from 350-410°F, putting most EVOOs within an acceptable range for frying. More importantly, recent research indicates that it is oxidative stability, rather than smoke point that is a more important consideration.

Oxidative stability refers to the resistance of an oil to breakdown and oxidation, as it is exposed to heat. A high oxidative stability also helps to maintain long shelf life, which is another hallmark of olive oil.

It turns out that polyphenol compounds unique to olive oil, specifically oleacein and oleocanthal, protect the oil against oxidative degradation during cooking. Other characteristics of EVOO, including a lower percentage of polyunsaturated fats (PUFAs), higher monounsaturated fats (MUFAs), as well vitamin E content, also contribute to stability when heated.

Key Takeaway: EVOO has a smoke point range of 350°F to 410°F (190°C to 210°C), making it suitable for most cooking methods. It is perfect for sautéing and pan-frying. And it turns out that smoke point is not as important a determinant as once believed. Oxidative stability is the key, and olive oil is quite stable. Its composition ensures that food remains protected from oxidation during cooking. So, contrary to the “you can’t fry” myth, olive oil is actually the healthiest oil to fry with because it retains the polyphenol content of the food better than other oils.

My grandmother was known to make the best French fries, fried in EVOO of course!

#2– Any Olive Oil Will Do: This is a very problematic belief. Not all olive oils are created equal. The healthiest choice is always extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). It retains high levels of antioxidants and polyphenols, which are responsible for many of its health benefits and its stability. Refined highly processed olive oils do not retain these compounds. Marketers like to brag that refined olive oil has a higher smoke point. But they don’t tell you it lacks the beneficial compounds that make EVOO so healthy and stable for frying. Besides, we’ve already busted the mythology around smoke point.

Though the data aren’t conclusive that organic EVOO has more antioxidants and polyphenols compared to non-organic, we may want to choose organic to reduce exposure to pesticide residues.

A quick note about the term “Cold pressed.” It is largely meaningless today, since it refers to a traditional technique that has been replaced by “cold extraction.” Cold pressed term refers to the old-school mechanical process of crushing and pressing the olives in a hydraulic cylinder without heat at temperatures below 27°C (80.6°F). It’s quaint, but mostly impractical for modern production scale.

Cold extraction, the predominant method in the industry today, uses continuous centrifugation for separating the oil from olive paste, also done at temps below 27°C.  Both methods must meet the same standards to qualify as “extra virgin.” (see article 10.

Key Takeaway: For maximum health benefits, only choose EVOO as it contains more antioxidants and bioactive compounds than refined varieties. You can taste the difference. Look for single harvest, early harvest, and ask the company for their polyphenol content.

In truth, though, the best way to tell if you have a really good olive oi is to taste it!

If you’d like to hone your olive oil tasting skills, and go in depth on the myriad benefits of this remarkable food, then plan to attend the Technical Course for Aspiring Olive Oil Tasters led by David Neuman, aka, EVOO Guy, in Bethlehem, PA, this Fall. I’ll be teaching nutrition at the course.

#3: Olive Oil is Not Ecologically Sustainable: This is another falsehood we often hear. It’s simply incorrect. EVOO and olives themselves are actually considered environmentally sustainable crops. Olive trees are more likely to survive well in a hotter, drier world. They already thrive in dry Mediterranean climates, requiring less water compared to other crops, such as avocados, which have a higher water demand. They also have a remarkable longevity that contributes to a more stable and sustainable agricultural product.

Olive trees also sequester a lot of carbon. The net carbon capture in an olive grove ecosystem is greater than its supply chain emissions. Primo Proietti, who heads the European Union’s Olive4Climate project, and his colleagues assessed carbon balance on olive farms in Italy, Greece, and Israel.  They found that on average the production of one liter of EVOO sequestered a 6 kg of CO₂, versus 3.4 kg of CO₂ emitted across the cultivation and production process. Consider that there are 1.8 million olive farms in the EU countries, cultivating 5 million hectares. That’s a lot of potential carbon capture.

Key Takeaway: EVOO is more sustainable than other oils; olive trees are adaptable to a changing climate. 

#4: Olive Oil Will Make You Fat: This misconception hearkens back to the “all fats are bad” mindset pushed by the fat-free foods industry.

In truth, EVOO can actually help with weight management. Preclinical studies have shown that compounds in EVOO may work similarly to GLP-1 agonists, drugs that stimulate the production of the hormones that promote satiety and regulate appetite. A 2025 review in Nutrients reported that consuming EVOO as part of the Mediterranean diet helped participants reduce visceral fat and improve metabolic health. EVOO is also thermogenic; it increases the rate at which the body burns fat, making it a valuable addition to any weight management plan. 

Key Takeaway: Olive oil doesn’t cause weight gain; instead, it can support weight loss by promoting satiety and boosting metabolism. 

#5: Olive Oil’s Health Benefits are Limited:  Nothing could be further from the truth. EVOO’s components as described above confer protective effects against cardiovascular disease by improving oxidative stress, reversing endothelial dysfunction, and reducing inflammation, thrombosis, blood pressure, epigenetic modulation, and favorably affecting metabolism of fats and carbohydrates.

EVOO has also been shown to improve post-prandial blood glucose and improve insulin sensitivity, making it anti-diabetic. Another EVOO compound, OLE aglycone, has been studied for its anti-amyloid and autophagy-promoting activity, making it interesting in the context of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. 

Key Takeaway: Bioactive compounds in EVOO exert effects on many pathways related to cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurological health. 

EVOO + Greens = Health!

Bottom line? High-quality EVOO from reputable and eco-conscious producers is good for you.

One of my favorite ways to incorporate EVOO into my day is in the traditional Greek recipe for Horta (cooked greens). Cretans especially love cooked wild and cultivated greens with EVOO and lemon juice. They’re such an important part of the traditional diet of Crete that there is an old saying: if you let a Cretan on your field, not a weed will be left.

To make Horta, you can use any mix of wild or cultivated greens such as Amaranth, Dandelion greens, Stamnagathi (a wild chicory found in Crete), or more common things like spinach, kale, broccoli rabe, collard greens, or mustard greens. My favorite is wild Amaranth, but lots of other types of greens work well too. Click here to get the recipe. 

A quick word of caution: if you’re foraging for wild greens be sure to pick from safe, clean, unsprayed areas—and always identify your plants correctly!

How much EVOO should someone eat every day?  I recommend 2-4 tbsp/daily. That’s approximately the amount I am using in my ongoing patient research study (30 mL/day). 

For me, olive oil is simply “oil.” They’re synonymous. Olive oil is intertwined with my family history and the flavors, tastes, and memories of my ancestral home in Crete. Though I grew up in the US, my mother, being from Crete, used olive oil for everything, even for making popcorn in a frying pan (which I don’t recommend, because it sometimes lit on fire which would truly negate the health benefits!).

Frying, drizzling, baking, sauteeing with EVOO is a longstanding culinary tradition all over the Mediterranean for centuries. It is essential in Mediterranean cuisine. By busting the falsehoods–which are surprisingly still perpetuated–and honoring the legendary benefits of this elixir of life, we give it its rightful place at the table of nutritional science. Along the way we can help our patients enjoy the pleasures of this delicious food and medicine.

Want an even deeper dive into olive oil?

I recommend Tom Muller’s book, Extra Virginity: The Sublime and Scandalous World of Olive Oil. I also enjoyed David Neuman’s Extra Virgin Olive Oil: The Truth in Your Kitchen, which will turn anyone into a master connoisseur of olive oils. 

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Artemis Morris, ND, is a licensed, board-certified naturopathic physician practicing in Milford, CT. She completed her Naturopathic Doctorate at Bastyr University in Seattle. She also has a Masters in Acupuncture from Bastyr University, and holds a Diploma from the NCCAOM. With over 20 years of experience, Dr. Morris is a renowned holistic wellness visionary, Naturopathic Physician, Licensed Acupuncturist, educator, researcher, and Mediterranean nutrition expert. As the Medical Director of Artemis Wellness Center, she leads an integrative family practice focused on women’s wellbeing, chronic disease prevention, and personalized, transformative care through  nutrition, herbal medicine, nutraceuticals, Craniosacral Therapy, Acupuncture, and functional medicine diagnostics. For more information visit:  Instagram: @drartemismorris