Why Olive Oil Deserves a Place in Healthy Diets

By Roasted Aubergine and Tomato Salad Recipe
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28 Aug 2026

Why Olive Oil Deserves a Place in Healthy Diets

Why olive oil keeps turning up on the healthiest tables

Spend any time reading about the Mediterranean way of eating and you will notice the same bottle appearing again and again. Olive oil is not a garnish in that tradition; it is the main source of fat, used to roast vegetables, dress beans, finish soups and soften a slice of good bread. What makes it interesting to nutritionists is not simply that people who eat this way tend to have healthier hearts, but that the fat itself has properties worth understanding.

For a UK cook, this matters on a practical level. If you are going to use a fat every day — and most of us do, whether in a frying pan, a roasting tin or a dressing — it is worth choosing one that works hard for you. Olive oil, particularly the extra virgin sort, is a strong candidate.

What the evidence actually suggests

The fat in olive oil is mostly monounsaturated, specifically oleic acid. Diets rich in monounsaturated fat, when they replace saturated fat from butter, lard or fatty processed meats, tend to be associated with better cholesterol profiles. That swap is the key point: olive oil is not an addition to a diet already heavy in saturated fat, it is a replacement for some of it.

Extra virgin olive oil also contains polyphenols — natural plant compounds such as hydroxytyrosol and oleuropein — along with vitamin E. These are the substances behind the peppery catch at the back of your throat when you taste a good oil. Research into polyphenols is ongoing, but they are thought to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, and some studies link regular consumption of extra virgin olive oil to measures of cardiovascular health.

A sensible framing is this: olive oil appears to support heart health when it is part of a balanced pattern of eating, not as a magic ingredient in isolation. It is still an energy-dense fat, at roughly 120 calories per tablespoon, so portion awareness matters alongside quality.

Choosing a bottle worth your money

Supermarket shelves can be confusing, so focus on a few practical markers.

Extra virgin means the oil was extracted mechanically without heat or chemical refining, preserving more polyphenols and flavour.
Harvest date is more useful than a best-before date. Fresher oil tastes brighter and holds more of the compounds you are paying for.
Dark glass or a tin protects the oil from light, which speeds up staleness.
Origin matters less than freshness, so a well-kept Greek, Italian, Spanish or even English-grown bottle can all be excellent.

Store it in a cool, dark cupboard, well away from the hob or a sunny windowsill, and use it within about a year of opening. If it smells waxy or tastes flat, it has passed its best.

Cooking with it in a British kitchen

There is an old myth that you cannot cook with extra virgin olive oil. In practice, its smoke point sits comfortably around 190–210°C, which covers roasting vegetables at 200°C, frying onions, searing fish and baking a tray of tomatoes. Save the very best, most peppery oil for finishing, where its flavour shows, and use a mid-range bottle for everyday cooking.

Try these straightforward switches:

Roast potatoes and root vegetables in olive oil with rosemary and garlic instead of dripping.
Drizzle it over a bowl of warm butter beans with lemon zest and parsley for a quick lunch.
Use it in cake and biscuit recipes that call for melted butter — olive oil cakes are moist and keep well.
Make a simple dressing of three parts oil to one part vinegar or lemon juice, shaken with a little mustard and salt.

A windowsill garden to go with it

You do not need a Mediterranean climate to grow the herbs that flatter olive oil. Rosemary, thyme, oregano, sage and bay all cope well in pots on a sunny south-facing windowsill or patio, provided they have sharp drainage — mix grit into the compost and never let them sit in water. Parsley and chives prefer a little more moisture and shade, so keep them separate.

If you have a sheltered, mild corner, a hardy olive tree in a large pot is a lovely project, though expect it to be ornamental rather than productive in most of the UK. Where space is tight, a single rosemary bush and a pot of oregano will transform a drizzle of oil into something that tastes properly of the sun.

Small changes that add up

None of this requires an overhaul. Replace the butter on your toast with a thin layer of olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Keep a small bottle by the hob so you reach for it without thinking. Add a handful of chopped herbs from the windowsill to whatever you are dressing. Build meals around vegetables, pulses, fish and whole grains, with olive oil as the thread that holds them together.

Eaten that way, in balanced meals and sensible amounts, olive oil earns its place — not as a trend, but as one of the most useful, best-tasting fats in a British kitchen.

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5 Comments

Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply
- John Abraham says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
  
  I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
  Reply
  - Robert Sonnysays Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am
    
    I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
    Reply
Robert Sonny says Jul 21, 2024 at 10:00am

I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system
Reply

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