Everything you need to know about olive oil and how it will help you live longer.
“The number one purpose of eating is as a vehicle to get as much olive oil into your body as possible.”
A study published on PubMed titled, Olive oil consumption is associated with lower cancer, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality among Italian adults: prospective results from the Moli-sani Study and analysis of potential biological mechanisms aimed to look beyond the research associating olive oil consumption with lower risk of cardiovascular disease, and wanted to determine any potential associations with lower risk of cancer, as well as peeling back some of the layers on the actual biological mechanisms at work, resulting in any potential lower risk of disease.
The authors of the paper performed a longitudinal analysis of 22,892 men and women from the Moli-sani Study in Italy and examined the association with olive oil consumption and mortality.
First and foremost, the findings of an analysis of 22,892 men and women is a pretty solid sample size, thus, a good amount of confidence can be placed on these findings.
And secondly, I mean, if you’re going to study the potential benefits of olive oil consumption, Italians would definitely be the population of people to study right!?
Dietary data for this study was collected from 2005-2010 and subjects were broken up into a “High” and “Low” olive oil consumption group.
The “High” olive oil consumption group consumed 3 or more tablespoons (tbsp.) of olive oil daily, and the “Low” group consumed 1.5 or less tbsp of olive oil daily.
They found that high consumption of olive oil (>3tbsp/d) was associated with a 21.2% reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality, and the low consumption group (<1.5tbsp/d) was associated with 13.7% reduced risk of cancer and all-cause mortality.
The authors of the paper go on to state, “Higher olive oil consumption was associated with lower cancer, cardiovascular, and all-cause mortality rates, independent of overall diet quality.”
Takeaways
Above all, it seems pretty clear that olive oil consumption will help you live longer.
Peeling back the layers a bit more, there are a couple key takeaways from this study aside from just working more olive oil into your diet.
✔️ First is that it appears the more olive oil you consume the better.
The benefits did appear to be dose dependent, as the high consumption group had a more greatly reduced risk of all-cause mortality, which of course includes cancer and cardiovascular disease.
An over 20% reduced risk of all-cause mortality, meaning literally dying from anything (non tragic accident related) disease related is quite significant, especially from simply consuming >3tbsp/d of olive oil.
✔️ Secondly, this was INDEPENDENT of overall diet quality, meaning these benefits seemed to be entirely dependent on the consumption of olive oil, isolating it as a true anti-aging powerhouse of a food.
Naturally, the better and cleaner your diet is, the more your risk factors for all-cause mortality will go down, however, this study shows that even with a less than ideal diet, by simply adding olive oil, (and the more the better), to your daily diet, the more you will reduce your risk of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and literally dying from any other disease.
For context, 3tbsp of olive per day is roughly a shot glass of olive oil, which is kind of funny, as I’ve been consuming a shot glass of olive oil daily on a pretty regular basis for about 2 years now, as well as adding it as an oil to foods I cook, and even cooking with it when I’m cooking on heat lower than medium (as anything medium and up will hit a smoke point, and denature many of the therapeutic properties of olive oil)
More Research
If you thought 22,000+ was a large sample size, a Harvard study titled, Consumption of Olive Oil and Risk of Total and Cause-Specific Mortality among U.S. Adults studied over 90,000 people over a 28 year period.
This study aimed to find the impact consuming just 1/2tbsp per day or more of olive oil had on all cause mortality and cause-specific mortality. For the cause-specific mortality risk rates, they looked at potential impacts to mortality risk from cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative diseases, and respiratory diseases.
Here’s what they found:
Consuming 1/2tbsp or more per day of olive oil reduced mortality risk of the following diseases by the following amounts:
• All cause mortality: 19% reduced risk
• Cardiovascular disease: 19% reduced risk
• Cancer: 17% reduced risk
• Neurodegenerative diseases: 29% reduced risk
• Respiratory diseases: 18% reduced risk
When you put these studies back to back, especially considering one studied 22,000+ men & women, and the other 91,000+, it seems pretty clear that simply consuming more olive oil on a daily, or relatively consistent basis, will help you live longer, with lower risk of disease.
Not All Olive Oils Are Created Equal
And naturally, when it comes to olive oil, as with so many things, there’s a catch.
Unfortunately, it is estimated that up to 80% of the olive oils sold on shelves in the U.S. aren’t 100% olive oil, as they’re often cut with cheap, processed, pro-inflammatory seed oils like soybean and canola oil.
You want to make sure you’re buying your olive in a glass and glass only bottle, that is dark in color, as olive oil, especially extra virgin olive oil (which contains higher amounts of therapeutic, disease preventive compounds) is sensitive to heat and light, and is easily oxidized.
Also avoid buying jumbo sized bottles of olive oil, as it simply makes it more likely that it will take you longer to go through the bottle, meaning it will sit out much longer at your house, and be more prone to oxidation over time and going rancid.
Buying smaller bottles ensures you go through your olive oil more quickly, and thus, are continually keeping fresher olive oil in your house.
Finally, if you want to ensure your olive oil is rich in polyphenol flavonoid antioxidants, (which are the main types of compounds that extra virgin olive oil is extremely rich in, and are associated with much of the reduced risk of all-cause mortality), it should pass “the cough test”.
The “Cough” Test
Consume a big swig or shot glass of olive oil and give it a second before you drink any water.
Pretty quickly after swallowing, you should feel an irritation in your throat, and even a bit of spiciness, and it should actually make you want to cough.
This is a good thing, as it means there’s an abundance of those highly beneficial polyphenol flavonoid antioxidants that cause this.
If you have a processed olive oil, denatured or rancid olive oil, or even worse, an olive oil cut with cheap, highly processed, pro-inflammatory seed oils, it will taste more neutral and won’t make you cough.
The cough test is a great way to know if the olive oil you are consuming is a legit anti-aging, disease fighting superfood or a cooking oil with little to no therapeutic properties.
We choose to carry Kosterina Extra Virgin Olive Oil, as it was awarded “World’s Best Olive Oil” in 2025, and routinely tests higher than most other olive oils in those polyphenol antioxidants I keep talking about.
Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club
This is a great club to join if you want to remove the guesswork and headache of ensuring your extra virgin olive oil is freshly harvested, pressed, and is what it says it is on the bottle (aside from Kosterina).
You can rely on “The Olive Oil Hunter” TJ Robinson to find and source the best tasting, freshest, and unique extra virgin olive oils from all around the world for you.
In the past, I’ve been a very happy member of the “Fresh Pressed Olive Oil Club”, where I received quarterly shipments of hand selected extra virgin olive oils by TJ himself.
Every quarter also brings olive oils from different regions of the world, so it’s fun to taste the regional differences in the olive oils, and it also gives you a chance to read more on the stories behind the actual olive oils selected for you.
I told you I was going to geek out on olive oil. 😊
Don’t play zero sum games in life.
We live in a wildly abundant world.
Everything…literally everything surrounding you right now, including all of the opportunity in front of you, was created over time.
Seemingly out of thin air.
The “zero sum game” mindset in life positions your perspective to be competitive with others; it creates a mindset of scarcity.
The approach that there is only one piece of the proverbial pie, and for me to get my piece, someone else must give up some of their piece.
The “positive sum game” mindset positions your perspective in a way that the pie can endlessly grow, and you can get your proverbial piece of the pie by growing the pie.
It creates an abundance mindset, and it makes you only competitive with yourself.
The “positive sum game” is a beautiful approach, and allows you to champion others while going after yours all at the same time.
You get to be a cheerleader for everyone else, while also having the opportunity to achieve everything you also want to accomplish.
You are POWERFUL. Act accordingly.
