Summary: Dr. Roger Clemens explains what those olive oil terms really mean, and what you should put your money on.<br> <br> Host: Gloria Tsang, RD<br> Guest: Roger Clemens, DrPH<br> <br> If you ever make a trip to the grocery store to pick up a bottle of olive oil lately, you know how confusing it can be. Dr. Roger Clemens, spokesperson for the Institute of Food Technologists' and professor at the USC School of Pharmacy, explain what those olive oil terms really mean, and what you should put your money on.<br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Transcript:<br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Welcome to the Nutrition Tidbits podcast. This is Gloria Tsang, Editor-in-Chief for HealthCastle.com. If you ever make a trip to the grocery store to pick up a bottle of olive oil lately, you know how confusing it can be. Joining me today is professor Dr. Roger Clemens. He is the Institute of Food Technologists' spokesperson and professor at the USC School of Pharmacy. He is here today to explain what those olive oil terms really mean, and what you should put your money on. Thank you for joining me Dr. Clemens.<br> <br> Roger Clemens, DrPH: It's a delight to join you and your audience today, thank you for asking.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Now cooking oil is always a hot topic on HealthCastle.com, partly because we cook every day and we use the oil every day. There are so many terms found on a bottle of olive oil; light, extra light, extra virgin, cold pressed, etc... What terms really do matter and which do not?<br> <br> Roger Clemens, DrPH: For all practical purposes based on the regulations that cover olive oil, the terms which you really look for are this. There are two types of virgin olive oils. These are the kinds of olive oils fit for consumption; and within that category they are called extra virgin olive oil and virgin olive oil. And then there are olive oils which are not fit for consumption and they are olive oil and refined olive oil; which are the terms that are used in the current regulations that cover this particular area.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: Now what does cold pressed really mean?<br> <br> Roger Clemens, DrPH: Cold pressed refers to the squeezing or the crushing of the olive oils without any chemical means; without the use of any particular solvents for extraction.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: We understand that there is a new standard by the USDA on olive oil. Can you tell us more about that?<br> <br> Roger Clemens, DrPH: Yes, it truly is about this new standard which went in to effect just a few days ago. This standard actually is over fifty years old and it was already in the regulations but finally came to surface because there is so much pressure and interest by the consumer to say, what am I buying at the grocery store? So on October 25, 2010, the USDA issued a regulation to talk about what composes of or the standards of grading olive oil and what that olive oil really means in terms of composition.<br> <br> Gloria Tsang, RD: There are culinary considerations in choosing one type of olive oil over the other, but for this segment we are going to focus on health. We know that olive oil is a rich source of monounsaturated fatty acids, aka Omega-9. Do all grades of olive oil contain the same amount of monounsaturated fatty acids?<br> <br> Roger Clemens, DrPH: That is a great question, really important for your listening audience. They do not all contain the same amount. Actually, they are intended to contain the same amount but not all olive oil contain the same amount. It really depends on the tree, the location of that tree, the climate in which that tree was grown, whether it was grown in Italy or in the United States, it's quite variable across the board. The flavor profile is much different as well. The amount of allowable defects in flavor and odor also variable to where the product was grown and the time of year it was harvested.
