When you fry with olive oil at very high heat, the healthy unsaturated fats break down faster than the saturated ones — especially in oils that started with lots of unsaturated fats.

When you cook olive oil at very high heat, the good unsaturated fats break down faster than the saturated ones — especially in oils that started with more unsaturated fats, making them less healthy for cooking.

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.

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.

When you heat olive oil super hot, it starts forming gunk (polar compounds), but even at the highest temperature tested, it didn’t get bad enough to be considered unsafe for frying by food safety rules.

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%).