Olive oil breaks down easier when heated than butter or beef fat because it has more fragile fats in it.

Scientific Claim

Olive oil, due to its 11% polyunsaturated fatty acid content, exhibits greater oxidative degradation under heat compared to animal fats with <5% polyunsaturated fat content.

Original Statement

“Olive oil is approximately 73% monounsaturated fat, 11% polyunsaturated fat, and about 14% saturated fat. This polyunsaturated fat content makes it much more susceptible to oxidization than a primarily saturated fat like tallow or ghee.”

From video:NEVER Cook Meat In These 5 TOXIC Fats!byMax German

Context Details

Domain

nutrition

Population

unspecified

Subject

olive oil

Action

oxidizes more readily under heat

Target

compared to tallow or ghee

Intervention Details

Type: diet

Dosage: 73% MUFA, 11% PUFA, 14% SFA

Duration: during cooking

Evidence from Studies

Supporting (1)

Effect of Heating Temperature of High-Quality Arbequina, Picual, Manzanilla and Cornicabra Olive Oils on Changes in Nutritional Indices of Lipid, Tocopherol Content and Triacylglycerol Polymerization Process

Cross-Sectional Study

In Vitro

2023 May 22

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)

Insight into the Storage-Related Oxidative/Hydrolytic Degradation of Olive Oil Secoiridoids by Liquid Chromatography and High-Resolution Fourier Transform Mass Spectrometry

Cross-Sectional Study

In Vitro

2020 Nov 4

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

Cross-Sectional Study

In Vitro

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.

Similar Assertions

Olive oil’s polyunsaturated fat content (11%) renders it more susceptible to thermal oxidation than animal fats with lower PUFA content (e.g., tallow, ghee <2%).

86%

Extra virgin olive oil produces higher levels of polar compounds and oxidative byproducts than saturated animal fats and coconut oil when subjected to prolonged heating.

79%

When you heat olive oil really hot, the healthy unsaturated fats break down much faster than the saturated ones—oils with more unsaturated fats lose them the most, making the oil less healthy.

76%

When you heat olive oil, it makes more of two harmful chemicals — HNE and ONE — than the other oils tested, likely because it’s high in oleic acid.

72%

Avocado oil contains 13–15% polyunsaturated fatty acids, rendering it susceptible to thermal oxidation despite a high monounsaturated fat content.

72%