Cooking olive oil at a moderate high heat doesn’t destroy all its healthy compounds, but it does break down some key ones — unless it’s a specific type of olive oil, which seems to hold up better.

Different types of olive oil react differently to heat — one kind (Buža) keeps more of its healthy compounds when cooked, while others lose more, because of their natural chemical makeup.

Frying olive oil too long breaks down its natural compounds and creates new ones—but adding olive extract slows this breakdown and even boosts total antioxidants for the first few hours.

After frying for 12 hours, regular olive oil loses almost all its healthy compounds, but extra virgin olive oil still keeps about a third of them — adding sesame oil doesn’t help preserve them.

With added olive extract, olive oil can be fried longer without breaking down into low-quality oil—especially at lower temperatures.