Does Olive Oil Reduce Inflammation? What the Trials Actually Show

Written by the Nuvirox Research Team

Short answer: probably a little, especially extra virgin olive oil used in place of other fats, with honest caveats. Pooled randomized trials show olive oil lowers C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) modestly compared with control diets, and the clearest effects come from the PREDIMED trial, where people ate a Mediterranean diet with roughly 50 mL (about 3.5 tablespoons) of extra virgin olive oil a day. But a 2024 meta-analysis limited to extra virgin olive oil found no significant effect on CRP, IL-6, or TNF-alpha, so the fair reading is "helpful as part of a pattern," not "a standalone anti-inflammatory."

Why would olive oil affect inflammation at all?

Because extra virgin olive oil is not just fat. Beyond its main fatty acid, oleic acid, it carries a family of phenolic compounds, including hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, oleocanthal, and oleacein, that interact with inflammatory signaling in laboratory studies.

The most famous example is oleocanthal. In a 2005 paper in Nature, Beauchamp and colleagues noticed that fresh extra virgin olive oil produces a peppery sting at the back of the throat, much like liquid ibuprofen. They traced the sensation to oleocanthal and showed that, in the lab, it inhibits the same cyclooxygenase (COX) enzymes that ibuprofen blocks. That finding is real, but it was a biochemistry experiment, not a trial showing olive oil works like a pain reliever in people. The amount of oleocanthal you get from a drizzle on salad is small and varies widely by olive variety, harvest, and storage.

The other proposed routes are less dramatic but probably more relevant to daily life: olive oil polyphenols help protect LDL particles from oxidation, and oxidized LDL is one of the triggers that keeps immune cells in artery walls activated. Swapping olive oil in for butter or refined fats also changes the overall fatty acid mix of the diet. If you want the bigger picture of how these signals become a lab result, our explainer on how the Mediterranean diet affects inflammation covers the whole pattern.

Does it matter whether the olive oil is extra virgin?

Yes, as far as trials can tell, the phenolic content seems to matter more than the "olive oil" label.

Refining strips out most polyphenols. That is why studies comparing high-phenol and low-phenol olive oils are useful: the fat is nearly identical, so differences point to the polyphenols. A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Vidal Damasceno and colleagues pooled 23 randomized trials (1,138 participants) of regular extra virgin olive oil intake. Compared with low-phenol olive oil, high-phenol extra virgin oil lowered CRP by about 1 mg/L and reduced oxidized LDL, although the CRP result showed considerable heterogeneity and the certainty of evidence ranged from moderate to very low. Practically, that points toward fresh, well-stored extra virgin oil rather than "light" or refined versions. The same logic is part of why we compare fats one at a time, for example in our look at whether coconut oil causes inflammation.

What human studies actually show

Schwingshackl et al., systematic review and meta-analysis (2015): 30 randomized controlled trials with 3,106 participants. Olive oil interventions lowered CRP by 0.64 mg/L and IL-6 by a small but statistically significant margin versus controls, and improved flow-mediated dilation, a measure of blood vessel function. The authors cautioned that designs were heterogeneous, since olive oil was sometimes a supplement and sometimes part of a whole diet, so "a conservative interpretation of the results is necessary."

PREDIMED substudies, Urpi-Sarda et al. (2012): in two substudies of the large Spanish PREDIMED trial, Mediterranean diets supplemented with virgin olive oil or nuts reduced CRP, IL-6, and endothelial adhesion molecules at three months, while these markers rose on the low-fat control diet. In a one-year substudy of 516 high-risk adults, the Mediterranean groups showed decreases in IL-6 and TNF receptors, and people in the highest third of virgin olive oil and vegetable intake had lower TNF receptor 60 levels.

Casas et al., PREDIMED subcohort (2014): summarized above. The important caveat is that olive oil arrived alongside a whole diet change, more vegetables, legumes, and fish, so the effect cannot be pinned on the oil alone.

Morvaridzadeh et al., meta-analysis of extra virgin olive oil trials (2024), the counterweight: 33 randomized trials with 2,020 participants, restricted to extra virgin olive oil. It found small improvements in insulin and insulin resistance, but no significant effect of extra virgin olive oil on CRP, IL-6, IL-10, or TNF-alpha, and no effect on LDL cholesterol or blood pressure. The authors called for larger, better-designed trials. This is the honest counterweight: once you isolate the oil and drop the whole-diet effect, the inflammation signal gets much weaker.

Put together, the evidence supports olive oil as one useful ingredient in an anti-inflammatory eating pattern. It does not support the idea that adding spoonfuls of olive oil to an otherwise unchanged diet will reliably move your CRP.

Where turmeric fits

Turmeric's main compound, curcumin, has its own body of trials on the same markers. A 2023 GRADE-assessed meta-analysis of 66 randomized trials (Dehzad et al.) found curcumin or turmeric supplementation lowered CRP by about 0.58 mg/L and also reduced TNF-alpha and IL-6, with no significant change in IL-1 beta. That is a similar order of magnitude to the olive oil findings, and it comes with similar caveats about varied doses, formulations, and populations. Nothing here shows that combining olive oil and curcumin adds up to a bigger effect; that simply has not been tested well. Our review of curcumin and inflammatory markers like CRP and IL-6 goes deeper.

What olive oil won't do

• It won't cancel out the rest of your diet. The strongest results come from people who also shifted toward vegetables, legumes, nuts, and fish.
• It won't act like a painkiller. Oleocanthal shares a lab mechanism with ibuprofen, but no trial shows dietary olive oil relieves pain the way a drug does. For joints specifically, see our separate look at whether olive oil helps joint pain.
• It won't explain a high lab result. CRP can be elevated by infection, injury, autoimmune conditions, and other medical causes.

See a doctor if you have a persistently elevated CRP, unexplained fevers, joint swelling, weight loss, or fatigue that does not improve. Diet changes are a reasonable addition to care, not a substitute for finding out what is driving inflammation.

How much olive oil did the trials use?

The best-known dose is the PREDIMED amount: about 50 mL of extra virgin olive oil per day, roughly 3.5 to 4 tablespoons, used for cooking and dressing within a Mediterranean diet.

That is a lot of oil, around 400 calories, so trials replaced other fats rather than adding olive oil on top. Practical takeaways from the research:

• Use extra virgin olive oil as your default cooking and dressing fat instead of butter or refined oils.
• Favor fresh oil with a harvest date, stored dark and cool. A peppery throat sting is a rough sign of oleocanthal.
• Think in months, not days. Marker changes in PREDIMED substudies were measured at three and twelve months.
• Pair it with the rest of the pattern. Garlic, herbs, and vegetables are part of the same tradition; see our look at whether garlic reduces inflammation.

Frequently asked questions

Is olive oil anti-inflammatory or is that a myth?
It is somewhere in between. Lab studies show clear anti-inflammatory activity from olive oil polyphenols, and pooled trials show modest drops in CRP and IL-6, mostly within a Mediterranean diet. A meta-analysis limited to extra virgin olive oil alone found no significant effect on these markers, so it is not a myth, but the effect is modest.

Should I drink a shot of olive oil every morning?
There is no trial evidence that drinking olive oil straight works better than using it in food. The studies that showed benefits used olive oil as the main culinary fat. Since a tablespoon is about 120 calories, adding shots on top of your usual diet can mean extra calories without a proven extra benefit.

Does cooking with olive oil destroy its benefits?
Heat reduces some polyphenols, but in PREDIMED participants cooked with their olive oil as well as using it raw. Using extra virgin oil for everyday cooking and adding some raw oil to finished dishes is a reasonable middle ground.

Is light or refined olive oil just as good?
Probably not for inflammation. Refined oils lose most of their phenolic compounds, and trials comparing high- and low-phenol olive oils found larger CRP and oxidized LDL effects with the high-phenol versions.

How long does it take for olive oil to lower inflammation markers?
In the PREDIMED substudies, changes were seen at three months and one year. Short trials of a few weeks have produced mixed results, so if you are tracking CRP, a retest after several months of consistent eating makes more sense than a two-week check.

The bottom line

Olive oil, especially fresh extra virgin olive oil, is one of the better-supported fats for an anti-inflammatory diet. Trials show modest drops in CRP and IL-6, most convincingly when olive oil replaces other fats inside a Mediterranean-style pattern, while trials of the oil in isolation are less consistent. Use it generously as your main fat, keep the rest of the diet in view, and treat any persistently abnormal lab result as a reason to talk to your doctor. For how olive oil compares with other popular fats, see our review of the Mediterranean diet and inflammation.

References

1. Schwingshackl L, Christoph M, Hoffmann G. Effects of olive oil on markers of inflammation and endothelial function: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrients. 2015;7(9):7651-7675. DOI: 10.3390/nu7095356. PMID: 26378571.
2. Urpi-Sarda M, Casas R, Chiva-Blanch G, et al. Virgin olive oil and nuts as key foods of the Mediterranean diet effects on inflammatory biomarkers related to atherosclerosis. Pharmacol Res. 2012;65(6):577-583. DOI: 10.1016/j.phrs.2012.03.006. PMID: 22449789.
3. Casas R, Sacanella E, Urpí-Sardà M, et al. The effects of the Mediterranean diet on biomarkers of vascular wall inflammation and plaque vulnerability in subjects with high risk for cardiovascular disease: a randomized trial. PLoS One. 2014;9(6):e100084. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0100084. PMID: 24925270.
4. Morvaridzadeh M, Cohen AA, Heshmati J, et al. Effect of extra virgin olive oil on anthropometric indices, inflammatory and cardiometabolic markers: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials. J Nutr. 2024;154(1):95-120. DOI: 10.1016/j.tjnut.2023.10.028. PMID: 37977313.
5. Vidal Damasceno J, Garcez A, Anelo Alves A, et al. Effects of daily extra virgin olive oil consumption on biomarkers of inflammation and oxidative stress: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2026;66(2):392-408. DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2025.2525446. PMID: 40749711.
6. Beauchamp GK, Keast RS, Morel D, et al. Phytochemistry: ibuprofen-like activity in extra-virgin olive oil. Nature. 2005;437(7055):45-46. DOI: 10.1038/437045a. PMID: 16136122.
7. Dehzad MJ, Ghalandari H, Nouri M, Askarpour M. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of curcumin/turmeric supplementation in adults: a GRADE-assessed systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Cytokine. 2023;164:156144. DOI: 10.1016/j.cyto.2023.156144. PMID: 36804260.

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. This article is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice.