When olive oil gets super hot, it starts forming gummy, big molecules called dimers — and the amount depends on the type of olive oil: blends with more Arbequina make way more than those with more Picual.

Scientific Claim

Heating extra virgin olive oil at 200 °C increases triacylglycerol dimer formation by 2.8- to 6.6-fold compared to heating at 170 °C, with Armonia (70% Arbequina) showing the highest polymer levels (5.17%) and Picual the lowest (1.14%).

Original Statement

“Increasing the heating temperature to 200 °C led to an increase in the content of the polar fraction by an average of 4.54 times... Their content ranged from 1.14% (Picual) to 5.17% (Armonia).”

From study: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

Evidence Quality Assessment

Claim Status

appropriately stated

Study Design Support

Design supports claim

Appropriate Language Strength

definitive

Can make definitive causal claims

Assessment Explanation

The study used standardized AOCS methods and HPLC to measure polymer levels under controlled conditions, enabling definitive statements about chemical changes under specific heating protocols.

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

The study found that heating olive oil hotter makes more gummy stuff form, and the blend with mostly Arbequina oil made more of it than the Picual oil — just like the claim says.

Contradicting (0)

No contradicting evidence found

Source Study

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

Score: 6

DOI: 10.3390/molecules28104247

Similar Assertions

Some olive oils — like Picual and Cornicabra — hold up better when heated than others, like Arbequina and Manzanilla, because they lose fewer healthy compounds and form less gunk when cooked.

79%

Heating olive oil really hot makes it get gunkier — about 4.5 times more than at a lower heat — but even at the highest temperature, it doesn’t get gunky enough to be considered unsafe by food safety standards.

74%

When subjected to prolonged heating, extra virgin olive oil generates significantly higher levels of polar compounds and lipid oxidation byproducts than coconut oil and ghee.

73%

All olive oils start out with a good balance of fats that lower bad cholesterol, but when you cook them really hot, that balance gets ruined — especially in oils that started with less of the good fats.

72%

Some olive oils have a better balance of two types of fats (omega-6 and omega-3) than others — Picual, Manzanilla, Cornicabra, and Sensation are in the healthy range, but Arbequina and its blends are way off.

72%