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The Truth on Olive Oil Health

We’ve all heard countless times that extra virgin olive oil is the core of the Mediterranean diet, and extremely healthy.  But how solid is the science surrounding olive oil?  Medical pundits frequently hold forth about olive oil with faulty facts.  How often have you been warned not to cook with extra virgin olive oil because heat breaks it down – despite the fact that quality extra virgin olive oil actually has a very high smoke point, and is extremely healthy?  Who saw Dr. Oz, in an otherwise fairly useful segment on olive oil real and fraudulent, urge his viewers to use the “fridge test” to find out whether their olive oil was authentic?  (The fridge test is based on bad science, and doesn’t work, as explained by chemist Richard Gawel here.)  Shaky olive oil science isn’t confined to TV health gurus and urban legends:  sometimes it's spread by serious researchers  ... read more

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Heroes of Oil: Jill den Hertog

I have heard that big events in our lives often precede major change—a wedding or a birth perhaps.   In my case, my husband had died recently, and I was driving south to see my children when I heard Tom interviewed on NPR radio. I was both amazed and exceedingly annoyed to find I’d been fooled by olive oil labeling for years. Knowing virtually nothing about the subject, except that it was supposed to be good for you, I had never understood how anyone could really “like’ the taste. No wonder, I realized, remembering all the bargain EVOOs I’d bought over the years  ... read more

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DC Drills Down into Oil

On December 5th, I testified at the first-ever national hearing on olive oil quality, in Washington DC.  Chaired by the United States International Trade Commission (USITC), an independent, bipartisan federal agency, this event brought together olive oil industry experts from across America and around the world.  The commissioners were engaged and very well prepared, asking intelligent questions for an entire long day of testimony.  This hearing demonstrated the US government’s firm new resolve to come to grips with olive oil quality.  So, the USITC hearing was serious stuff . . . but also loads of fun, with plenty of familiar faces. ... read more

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All that Glitters, continued

My recent article, Not All that Glitters is Gold, has attracted many comments, and it’s been fascinating to watch their evolution.  They remind me of the old game of “operator”:  people form a line, and the first person says a phrase into his or her neighbor’s ear.  What comes out the far end frequently bears no relation to what was originally said.  I’d like to address some of the questions raised by commenters, and hopefully, bring the conversation back to what was actually said at the outset, in my article.  ... read more