OK. You know, I'm a big fan of olive
oil and a big fan of avocados. But what about avocado oil? Truth is avocado oil is not one of my favorites. So why the craze about avocado oil? Well, here's what people like about it. First of all, it has a very high smoke point. Now, smoke point refers to the temperature that
you bring an oil up to before smoke rises out of the oil. And quite frankly, smoking oil is
not exactly a pleasant thing to be around. And people assume that a smoke point has to
do with the oil oxidizing and going bad. In fact, it has nothing to do with
that as we'll talk about in a minute. But it makes it for a very good
cooking oil for that point. Now, avocado oil is a lot
better than most seed oils. The vast majority of seed oils and bean oils
like for instance, peanut oil, like for instance, corn oil, cotton seed oil, safflower oil,
sunflower oil, you name the grape seed oil. These actually are very damaging. So, avocado oil is mostly a
monounsaturated fat Oleic acid. It's cheaper in general
than extra virgin olive oil. So those are the things that people like. The problem is like most things, the
good does not outweigh the bad. Now unlike olive oil, avocado oil really
doesn't have a very high polyphenol content. And you've heard me say over
and over again that the reason you're using olive oil is not for the
Oleic acid, the monounsaturated fat. That's not the reason you're using it. In fact, oleic acid really doesn't
have a big health benefit at all. You're using olive oil to
get the polyphenols into you. And olive oil has a lot more
polyphenols than avocado oil. The other problem with avocado
oil is there are unfortunately, a number of studies that show most
of the commercial avocado oil in this country has been adulterated with other
oils and that's to keep the price down. You can't taste these oils. You can't tell the texture
difference in these oils. But a lot of unfortunately, avocado oil
with testing shows the presence of the nasty Omega six fat, the short chain
Omega six fat called Linoleic acid. So buyer beware with avocado oil. Now are eating
avocados different than using avocado oil? Absolutely. Why? Avocados have some fantastic beneficial fiber
that your gut microbiome really, really likes. So yes, it has the same fats as avocado oil, but you're taking away all
the benefit of those fibers. That's really the reason you're
eating the avocado in the first place. It's the same way, believe it or not, olives are kind of like
avocados are to avocado oil and olive oil. They're pressed from the olives and it turns out olives
are equally really good for you as avocados. Now, why is one avocado a day great? First of all, studies show
it does not make you fat, but the most impressive part
is that the avocado helps you absorb multiple other polyphenols and
antioxidants from the food you eat. So that's why putting an avocado in your salad
like I had last night is really the way to go. Ok. So in my opinion, olive oil is the
clear winner over these two oils. Believe it or not, it's the best cooking oil. People have been cooking with
olive oil for over 5,000 years. It does have a lower smoke point. That means it starts smoking, but
that does not mean it oxidizes. In fact, comparing olive oil against coconut
oil, which has one of the highest smoke points. Olive oil oxidizes less than coconut oil. One of the, you know,
standards for high smoke point. So use olive oil to cook with, use
olive oil to put it on your food, again. Just because it's smoking
does not mean it's oxidizing. Finally, oils oxidize the
longer you leave them out. And regardless of the type of oil you're using, whether it's avocado oil, whether it's olive
oil, make sure you keep it in a dark bottle, make sure you keep it in a dark place and
once you open it up, it starts going bad. So please buy oils in small containers. That way you'll use it rapidly and it
won't go rancid or oxidized. And that's when you wanna do it. Why do you want olive oil? I've said it over. I don't know too many times. There are multiple studies
showing that the polyphenols and olive oil have dramatic health benefits. The predemed study out of Spain, the
Lyon heart diet out of France. All of these studies show the immense
benefit of adding olive oil into your diet. OK. Let's talk one more thing, coconut oil. Now, coconut oil, as I mentioned has a very high smoke point and it is a useful
cooking oil for that purpose. But coconut oil has 1/10 the
polyphenol content of olive oil. 1/10. So if you're comparing the
two, there's no benefit. Secondly, many of you carry the Apo E4
mutation, the quote Alzheimer's gene, 30% of people carry that mutation and saturated fats particularly from coconut oil
are definitely detrimental to you. So if you've never had your
Apo E4 status checked, one in three of you watching this
show or listening have this gene. So why would you take a chance? Now, the good news is coconut oil is used
primarily to get MCT oil extracted from it. Most people don't realize
that coconut oil does not have a lot of medium chain triglycerides in it. But we can extract those MCTs and
those are actually beneficial to Apo E4 patients and beneficial to all of us. But don't assume because MCT oil
in general comes from coconut oil, that coconut oil is a great source of MCTs, it's not. There's plenty of other
reasons to use different oils. Whenever we're using oils, you gotta ask yourself what health benefit is using
this oil bringing to me. Otherwise, there's absolutely no
use for adding oils to your diet. For instance, Perilla oil is
my favorite oil for cooking for mixing in with olive oil for my salad dressings. And I've written a lot about the
health benefits of Perilla oil. It has the highest content
of alpha linolenic acid. That short chain omega three oil. It was the basis of the benefit of the Lyon
Heart Diet study and it's really good for you. And in the upcoming book, you'll see the health
benefits of alpha linolenic acid are just mind boggling. And Perilla oil is a great source
of two other longevity producing compounds. So, avocado oil doesn't have alpha linolenic acid, neither does extra virgin olive oil and
get some Alpha linolenic acid in your diet. By the way, flax seed oil is another
great source of Alpha linolenic acid. More amazing episodes just
like this one watch now. And metabolic flexibility is
at the core of having great looking skin, of having great healthy skin cells.
