March 17, 2023—TikTok influencers are touting olive oil as a health and weight loss booster and drinking it as shots or mixed into beverages. But according to nutrition experts quoted in a March 1 New York Times article, olive oil consumed on its own won’t transform health and may just add unnecessary calories to the diet.
Marta Guasch-Ferré, adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, advised in the article that the best way to consume olive oil is as a replacement for less healthy fat sources such as butter or creamy salad dressing. People should aim for no more than three or four tablespoons per day, she said.
Guasch-Ferré led a 2022 study that linked higher olive oil consumption with lower risk of premature death overall and from specific causes including cardiovascular disease, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease.
Read the New York Times article: Can Olive Oil Do All That?