7 Real Health Benefits of Drinking Olive Oil Daily
Last Updated: October 27, 2026
Quick Summary
Drinking olive oil daily can support heart health, cholesterol and blood pressure when it replaces saturated fats rather than adding calories on top. Most research points to one to two tablespoons a day as a total budget, so a single morning tablespoon plus normal cooking use is enough for most people.
Start with one teaspoon and work up over a week or two so your digestion adjusts.
Olive oil has about 120 calories per tablespoon, and two tablespoons is roughly 240 calories.
Take your dose with food rather than on a completely empty stomach to avoid loose stools.
Anyone with gallstones, pancreatitis, or on blood thinners should talk to a doctor first.
Store your bottle in a cool, dark cabinet and use it within a few months of opening.
Table of Contents
What Happens When You Drink Olive Oil Every Day
Drinking olive oil is the practice of consuming extra virgin olive oil straight from a spoon or glass rather than only using it to cook. Many people who follow a Mediterranean-style diet take a small amount each morning, and the habit has become one of the most searched questions about olive oil.
Drinking It Straight vs. Cooking With It
Our take: drinking a measured amount is a fine way to hit a daily target, but it should supplement a diet that already uses olive oil in meals, not replace it.
Heart Health, Blood Pressure, and Stroke Risk
The strongest evidence for olive oil sits in cardiovascular outcomes, and it comes from dietary patterns rather than isolated spoonfuls. Research on Mediterranean-style eating consistently links olive oil as the primary fat source to lower rates of heart disease and stroke. The American Heart Association's dietary guidance recommends replacing saturated fats with unsaturated fats like the monounsaturated fat in olive oil, which is the mechanism doing most of the work.
Olive Oil and Cholesterol: What the Evidence Shows
What most guides miss is that the comparison matters more than the absolute number. Swapping butter for olive oil changes your lipid profile. Adding olive oil on top of a diet already heavy in saturated fat does much less. The FDA's qualified health claim for monounsaturated fat reflects this by framing benefit around replacement, not addition.
Talking With Docs
Antioxidants, Inflammation, and Long-Term Health Outcomes
For a deeper look at what polyphenols do in the body, our guide to high polyphenol Greek olive oil walks through the science behind heart health, antioxidants, and brain function. If you want the full breakdown of benefits, the 2026 guide to high polyphenol olive oil covers it in detail. And if blood pressure is your focus, this piece on lowering blood pressure with polyphenols explains the specific mechanism.
How Much Olive Oil Per Day Is Actually Recommended
Here is the part most guides skip: the numbers in the research are serving sizes used in studies, not a prescription for how much to drink. When a trial or cohort reports olive oil intake, it is usually measuring total dietary use, oil on bread, in dressings, in cooking, not spoonfuls taken straight. So when you see "one to two tablespoons per day," read it as a total daily budget, not a drinking quota.
Turning the Range Into a Real Daily Budget
Count all of it. If you drizzle oil on a salad at lunch and roast vegetables at dinner, those tablespoons count toward the same budget as the one you drink in the morning.
Anchor on one measured dose. A single tablespoon in the morning plus normal cooking use is enough for most people to hit the range comfortably.
Scale to your plate. If you are eating closer to 1,600 calories, one tablespoon total may be the better fit; if you are highly active, two to three tablespoons can work.
Practical Upper Limits
A common mistake is starting at a high dose. Begin with one teaspoon and work up over a week or two. Your digestion will tell you what it tolerates.
The research figures are a total daily budget for all olive oil, not a drinking quota.
Item | Value | Note |
Typical research intake | One to two tablespoons per day | A total daily budget, not a drinking quota |
Morning dose | One tablespoon | Plus normal cooking use hits the range |
Lower-calorie plate | One tablespoon total | Better fit for about 1,600 calories |
Highly active | Two to three tablespoons | Can work for highly active people |
Starting dose | One teaspoon | Work up over a week or two |
Calories per tablespoon | About 120 calories | Easy to overlook in liquid form |
Two tablespoons | Roughly 240 calories | Meaningful for anyone managing weight |
Olive Oil Side Effects and Who Should Use Caution
Watch out: drinking a large volume of oil in one sitting can trigger a bout of diarrhea severe enough to cause dehydration, and it is a genuine risk for anyone with a sensitive gut or irritable bowel syndrome.
The Calorie and Weight Consideration
This is the caution most drinking-oil content underplays. Olive oil is a fat, and at about 120 calories per tablespoon it is easy to overlook in liquid form. Two tablespoons a day is roughly 240 calories, meaningful for anyone managing weight. The oil is not a free health add-on; it has to fit inside your daily energy budget, which usually means swapping it for another fat rather than adding it on top.
Digestive Tolerance
Most people tolerate a tablespoon with food without issue. Problems tend to come from three patterns: taking it on a completely empty stomach, jumping straight to a large dose, or drinking it quickly. Starting with a teaspoon and taking it with a meal solves most of it. If loose stools persist beyond a week or two, cut back or stop.
Who Should Use Caution
Anyone with gallstones or gallbladder issues: fat triggers gallbladder contraction, which can provoke pain.
People with a history of pancreatitis: high-fat intake can trigger flare-ups.
Anyone on blood thinners: high-dose olive oil may influence clotting; talk to your doctor first.
People managing weight: the calories are real and easy to overlook in liquid form.
Anyone with a known olive or olive-pollen allergy: rare, but a genuine reason to avoid it.
Talk to a Clinician First If…
You take prescription medication, have a diagnosed digestive or gallbladder condition, are pregnant, or are managing a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and it does not replace prescribed treatment for any condition. If you are unsure whether daily olive oil fits your situation, that is a conversation for your clinician, not a label.
How to Choose High-Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Store your bottle in a cool, dark cabinet, keep it sealed, and use it within a few months of opening. If you want to check a bottle's claims against real numbers, our guide on how to verify olive oil polyphenol levels shows what lab results should look like.
Start With a Fresh-Pressed Bottle From Nona's EVOO
Nona's EVOO delivers high polyphenol Greek extra virgin olive oil directly to your door, shipped from Houston. You can browse subscriptions to exclusive memberships for fresh-pressed olive oil. Our oil is certified for quality and crafted from carefully selected olives.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it safe to drink olive oil every day?
For most adults, yes. One to two tablespoons daily fits within a normal diet and delivers monounsaturated fat and polyphenols without excess calories. Start with one tablespoon and see how your digestion responds. People with gallstones, pancreatitis, or a history of digestive issues should check with a doctor first, since a large amount of fat on an empty stomach can trigger discomfort. Keep total daily fat within your calorie needs rather than adding olive oil on top of an unchanged diet.
How much olive oil per day should you actually consume?
Research on Mediterranean eating patterns typically points to roughly 1 to 4 tablespoons (about 15 to 60 ml) per day, with most benefit showing up around 2 to 3 tablespoons used across meals. You do not need to drink it straight to hit that range. Drizzling it over vegetables, salad, and cooked dishes counts the same. Going far beyond 4 tablespoons mainly adds calories, so treat it as a replacement for butter or other fats, not an extra.
Is drinking olive oil better than using it in food?
Your body absorbs the same monounsaturated fat and polyphenols either way, so drinking it straight is not superior to eating it with meals. In fact, taking it with food may help with absorption of fat-soluble nutrients and is gentler on the stomach. Drinking a spoonful is simply a convenient habit for people who want a consistent daily intake. The bigger factor is quality: a fresh, high-polyphenol extra virgin olive oil delivers more antioxidants than a refined or older bottle.
Does olive oil help lower cholesterol?
Replacing saturated fat, such as butter or lard, with olive oil is linked to lower LDL cholesterol and higher HDL cholesterol in clinical studies. The effect comes mainly from the swap, not from adding oil on top of what you already eat. Expect changes over weeks to months, not days. Extra virgin olive oil also supplies polyphenols that may help protect LDL from oxidation. Anyone on cholesterol medication should treat diet as a complement to treatment, not a replacement.
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