When you heat olive oil, the smell changes mostly because of how hot it gets — not because of what kind of olive it came from.

When olive oil gets super hot, the main antioxidant (alpha-tocopherol) disappears completely, but other minor antioxidants (beta and gamma) stick around a bit longer — and some oils protect them better than others.

When you heat olive oil really hot (200°C), it loses all its protective antioxidants and turns into more gunk than when heated at a lower temperature (170°C).

Scientists can calculate exactly how fast the healthy parts of olive oil break down when heated at different temperatures, using a mathematical model.

The amount of heat energy needed to break down the healthy compounds in olive oil doesn’t change much, no matter how hot you heat it (within the range tested).

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.