Olive oil breaks down easier when heated than butter or beef fat because it has more fragile fats in it.
Evidence from Studies
Supporting (1)
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This study showed that when you heat olive oil, it breaks down faster because it has more of a type of fat (PUFA) that doesn’t like heat. Even though it didn’t compare olive oil to animal fat, it still proves that olive oil gets damaged by heat, which matches the claim.
Contradicting (2)
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This study looked at how olive oil breaks down when stored in bottles, not when heated in a pan, and didn’t compare it to animal fats at all.
Assessing the Oxidative Stability of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Different Regions Using Fluorescence Spectroscopy
The study shows olive oil goes bad over time, but it doesn’t compare it to animal fats or say whether the difference is because of the type of fat—so we can’t tell if the claim is right or wrong.