Extra Virgin Olive Oil & Health: Nutrition, Polyphenols and What the Research Shows

For us, this research has a particularly interesting dimension. The Governor EVOO itself has been used in human clinical research, while The Governor has also been used as the source of oleocanthal and other olive phenolics in a growing body of laboratory and animal studies.

A clinical trial where people actually consume The Governor tells us something quite different from a laboratory experiment using oleocanthal isolated from the oil and tested in cells or animals.

Taken together, however, these different layers of evidence help build a fascinating picture. Some benefits of olive oil, particularly in relation to cardiovascular health and oxidative protection, already have substantial human evidence behind them. Other areas, including cognitive health and the biological activity of individual olive phenolics, are developing rapidly.

Polyphenols are natural compounds that occur in plants.

In extra virgin olive oil, polyphenols contribute to its flavour, bitterness and peppery kick, as well as helping to keep the oil stable. Scientists are interested in them because of how they interact with oxidative, inflammatory and other biological processes in the body.

Important olive-oil phenolic compounds include oleocanthal, oleacein and derivatives of hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol.

If you’ve ever tasted a fresh, high-polyphenol EVOO, you may have noticed that distinctive peppery tickle at the back of your throat. Oleocanthal is one of the compounds associated with that characteristic sensation.

Polyphenol levels are not set in stone. They can vary widely between olive varieties, growing regions and even from one harvest to the next.

When the olives are picked, the climate, farming methods and milling process all influence the final composition of the oil.

When we talk about “high-polyphenol olive oil”, we mean oils that naturally contain higher levels of these phenolic compounds than is typical.

Harvesting olives while they are still relatively green can result in higher phenolic concentrations, although variety, growing conditions and production methods also matter.

But it’s not just about chasing the highest polyphenol number.

Chemical quality, freshness, flavour, traceability, storage and the unique phenolic profile of each oil all play a part too.

That’s why we analyse every new harvest of The Governor, instead of assuming that last year’s results will always hold true.

There is an authorised European health claim specifically relating to olive oil polyphenols:

“Olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress.”

The beneficial effect is obtained from a daily intake of 20g of olive oil, provided that amount contains at least 5mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives.

This is important because it moves part of the olive-oil polyphenol conversation beyond simply talking about “antioxidants”. There is a recognised physiological benefit associated with qualifying levels of olive-oil polyphenols.

The Governor’s 2025 Limited Edition harvest was independently analysed at 1,316 mg/kg total phenols. Analysis found that 20g contained 26.31mg of hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol and their derivatives, more than five times the 5mg level referred to in the authorised claim.

Because olive oil is a natural product and phenolic levels change each year, we always recommend checking the analysis for the current harvest rather than relying on previous figures.

Learn how we test The Governor EVOO

Cardiovascular health is one of the strongest and most established areas of olive-oil research.

Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fat, and research examining Mediterranean dietary patterns and olive-oil consumption has repeatedly reported favourable cardiovascular outcomes.

One of the best-known examples is the large PREDIMED clinical trial, involving 7,447 people at high cardiovascular risk. Participants following a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil experienced fewer major cardiovascular events than those following the control diet.

Research: Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet Supplemented with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Nuts

Large prospective studies and meta-analyses have reached similarly encouraging conclusions.

A meta-analysis of 13 prospective cohorts found that higher olive-oil consumption was associated with a 15% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality compared with lower consumption.

Research: Olive oil consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality: A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies
View the meta-analysis on PubMed

Another systematic review covering more than 800,000 participants for cardiovascular outcomes examined olive-oil consumption in relation to cardiovascular disease, cancer, type 2 diabetes and mortality.

That doesn’t mean olive oil works in isolation. The Mediterranean diet combines EVOO with vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish and other minimally processed foods.

But when the evidence is considered as a whole, there is a strong case for extra virgin olive oil as an important part of a heart-healthy dietary pattern.

Oleocanthal is one of the most fascinating compounds naturally present in certain extra virgin olive oils.

Scientific interest accelerated after research showed that oleocanthal could inhibit cyclooxygenase enzymes involved in inflammatory pathways in a manner that shared some biochemical similarities with ibuprofen.

That doesn’t mean olive oil is a natural substitute for ibuprofen, and EVOO should never be used in place of prescribed anti-inflammatory medication.

What the discovery did do was give scientists another reason to investigate the biological activity of olive-oil phenolics.

Since then, oleocanthal has been investigated in relation to inflammation, brain health and several areas of cancer biology.

Human research into olive-oil polyphenols has also shown that phenolic content can influence measurable biological markers.

In a randomised controlled crossover trial, olive oils containing progressively higher levels of phenolic compounds were associated with reductions in oxidised LDL and increased resistance of LDL to oxidation.

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Research: Effects of differing phenolic content in dietary olive oils on lipids and LDL oxidation — a randomized controlled trial
View the study on PubMed

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A related human trial also found that consumption of phenolic-rich olive oil increased phenolic compounds within LDL itself, supporting a possible mechanism behind greater resistance to oxidation.

Much of the research into oleocanthal itself is still at the mechanistic or preclinical stage, but The Governor has played an interesting role because its naturally high oleocanthal content makes it a useful source oil for researchers.

These are not the same type of evidence, so we believe it’s important to describe them separately.

What makes the story particularly interesting is that The Governor’s involvement does not stop with laboratory experiments. It has also been consumed directly by participants in human clinical research.

One of the most directly relevant studies was a randomised controlled trial published in Nutrients in 2022 examining extra virgin olive oil and blood-brain barrier function in people with mild cognitive impairment.

Twenty-six participants were enrolled. The EVOO group received 30ml per day of The Governor EVOO for six months. A comparison group received refined olive oil containing essentially no polyphenols.

Researchers reported encouraging changes in measures linked to blood-brain barrier function and brain connectivity after the EVOO intervention. Improvements were also reported in clinical dementia rating and behavioural measures.

For a small, early-stage human trial, these findings are particularly interesting because participants actually consumed The Governor itself rather than researchers simply testing an isolated olive-oil compound.

The study does not establish that The Governor prevents or treats Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. But it provides human evidence that high-phenolic EVOO can influence measurable processes linked to brain health and gives researchers a strong reason to continue investigating the area in larger clinical trials.

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Research: Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Enhances the Blood–Brain Barrier Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial
View the study on PubMed

Brain health has become an increasingly important area of olive-oil research.

Large observational studies have reported associations between regular olive-oil consumption and lower dementia-related mortality.

One major 2024 study followed 92,383 adults for 28 years. People consuming more than 7g of olive oil per day had a 28% lower risk of dementia-related death than those who rarely or never consumed olive oil.

As an observational study, it cannot prove that olive oil alone caused that reduction. But findings like these add another encouraging layer to the wider evidence around olive oil and long-term brain health.

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Research: Consumption of Olive Oil and Diet Quality and Risk of Dementia-Related Death
Read the study in JAMA Network Open
View the study on PubMed

The research involving The Governor brings another layer.

Before the human mild-cognitive-impairment study, researchers had already been investigating oleocanthal-rich EVOO in Alzheimer’s disease models.

One study examined oleocanthal-rich EVOO in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease, investigating blood-brain barrier function, neuroinflammation and related pathology.

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Research: Oleocanthal-Rich Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Restores the Blood-Brain Barrier Function through NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibition Simultaneously with Autophagy Induction in TgSwDI Mice
View the study on PubMed

An earlier study also examined oleocanthal-rich EVOO alongside donepezil in an Alzheimer’s disease mouse model, looking at amyloid-beta burden and related biological changes.

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Research: Oleocanthal-rich extra-virgin olive oil enhances donepezil effect by reducing amyloid-β load and related toxicity in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
View the study on PubMed

Animal research can be extremely useful for understanding potential mechanisms and deciding whether human trials are justified.

That is why the later human randomised trial is so interesting. It represents another step forward in the research and provides early human evidence alongside the biological mechanisms explored in earlier studies.

Research suggests that some of the health effects associated with EVOO may involve both its fatty-acid profile and its phenolic compounds.

Oleocanthal, in particular, continues to attract attention for its interaction with inflammatory pathways.

Other olive phenolics have also demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in experimental studies.

Inflammation itself is a complex process, and no single food should be presented as a treatment for inflammatory disease.

But the wider picture is encouraging. Extra virgin olive oil fits naturally into a healthy dietary pattern and contains a distinctive combination of monounsaturated fat and biologically active phenolic compounds that scientists continue to explore.

This is one of the areas where language matters most.

There is considerable scientific interest in Mediterranean dietary patterns, olive-oil consumption and individual olive-oil phenolics in relation to cancer.

Observational studies can examine whether people who consume more olive oil experience different rates of certain cancers.

Laboratory experiments can investigate what individual phenolic compounds do to cancer cells.

Animal studies allow researchers to examine potential mechanisms in a living biological system.

And clinical trials involving people provide a different level of evidence again.

These different types of research answer different questions, but together they help scientists decide which biological effects are promising enough to investigate further.

An especially noteworthy study involving The Governor was a pilot dietary intervention in people with early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL).

In the first phase, 20 patients were randomised to consume either a high-oleocanthal/high-oleacein EVOO or a lower-phenolic EVOO at 40ml per day for three months. A later intervention involved 22 participants consuming the high-phenolic oil for six months.

Researchers measured a range of haematological, biochemical, cellular-proliferation and apoptosis-related markers.

The Governor was the high-oleocanthal/high-oleacein intervention oil used in this research.

The investigators reported favourable changes in several biomarkers. In the longer intervention, these included changes in white blood cell and lymphocyte counts, alongside markers relating to apoptosis, cell cycle and proliferation.

For an exploratory human study, these findings are intriguing. The researchers concluded that high-oleocanthal/high-oleacein EVOO warranted further investigation as a dietary intervention.

This was a small pilot study and does not establish The Governor as a treatment for CLL. What it does show is that consuming a phenolic-rich EVOO produced measurable biological changes in people with early-stage disease, a finding that justifies larger and more definitive clinical trials.

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Research: The Effect of Dietary Intervention With High-Oleocanthal and Oleacein Olive Oil in Patients With Early-Stage Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Pilot Randomized Trial
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

The Governor has also been used as a source of oleocanthal for preclinical cancer research.

A 2020 lung-cancer paper is particularly clear about this relationship. In the methods, the researchers state that oleocanthal was extracted from The Governor EVOO.

Researchers examined oleocanthal in lung-cancer cells and mouse models, particularly its effects on c-MET and COX2 signalling.

This was laboratory and animal research rather than a human clinical trial, but it contributes to the wider understanding of how oleocanthal may interact with biological pathways involved in cancer progression.

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Research: (−)-Oleocanthal as a Dual c-MET-COX2 Inhibitor for the Control of Lung Cancer
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

Oleocanthal isolated from EVOO has also been investigated in preclinical research involving triple-negative breast cancer.

One study developed a formulation combining oleocanthal with xylitol and tested it in laboratory and mouse models.

The work examined tumour growth and recurrence following surgical removal of primary tumours.

Again, this was preclinical research rather than a trial in people, but it helps researchers investigate potential biological mechanisms and identify areas worthy of further study.

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Research: Novel Olive Oil Phenolic (−)-Oleocanthal (+)-Xylitol-Based Solid Dispersion Formulations with Potent Oral Anti-Breast Cancer Activities
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

More recently, researchers have continued examining combinations of EVOO phenolics in invasive breast-cancer models.

A 2025 paper investigated several individual and combined olive phenolics. Oleocanthal and ligstroside aglycone were among the compounds showing the strongest activity in the experimental models.

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Research: Harnessing Nature’s Chemistry: Deciphering Olive Oil Phenolics for the Control of Invasive Breast Carcinoma
View the 2025 study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

These experiments help scientists identify possible mechanisms for further research. They don’t show that eating EVOO can prevent or treat breast cancer, but they demonstrate why individual olive-oil phenolics continue to attract serious scientific interest.

Oleocanthal has also been investigated in laboratory and animal models of metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.

One study examined an enzyme called SMYD2, investigating whether oleocanthal could influence molecular pathways associated with progression and recurrence.

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Research: Oleocanthal Attenuates Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Progression and Recurrence by Targeting SMYD2
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

These findings remain preclinical, but they add to an expanding body of research investigating how oleocanthal interacts with cancer-related molecular pathways.

Scientific work involving Governor-derived phenolics has continued.

In research published in Nutrients in 2025, scientists investigated oleocanthal and olive-oil phenolics in laboratory and mouse models of colorectal cancer.

The researchers examined pathways involving SMYD2, EZH2 and c-MET, as well as tumour progression and recurrence.

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Research: The Olive Oil Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal Suppresses Colorectal Cancer Progression and Recurrence by Modulating SMYD2-EZH2 and c-MET Activation
View the 2025 study on PubMed

A follow-up paper published on 11 August 2026 examined oleocanthal in a KRAS-mutant colorectal-cancer model.

Importantly for The Governor, the study reports that the oleocanthal used in the experiments was isolated from Greek Governor EVOO from Corfu and purified before experimental use.

Researchers used an orthotopic mouse model designed to reproduce aspects of the tumour environment more closely.

This remains preclinical evidence rather than evidence that consuming The Governor will prevent or treat colorectal cancer. Its importance lies in helping researchers understand the mechanisms involved and identify promising directions for future study.

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Research: Lead Validation of the Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal for Effective Control of KRASG13D-Mutant Colorectal Cancer Progression and Metastasis
Read the 2026 study in Nutrients
View the study on PubMed

Another study investigated oleocanthal in experimental models of aggressive neuroendocrine prostate cancer.

The paper records The Governor EVOO as the source oil provided by the Dafnis family.

Researchers examined a network of biological pathways including ROR2, ASCL1, SMYD2, EZH2 and c-MET using cancer cells, mouse models and patient-derived xenograft tissue.

The findings are particularly interesting for drug discovery and the understanding of biological mechanisms, although this was not a clinical trial in people.

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Research: The Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal as a Novel Intervention for Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancers: Therapeutic and Molecular Insights
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

Researchers have also studied hydroxyoleocanthal, or oleacein, in experimental neuroendocrine prostate-cancer models.

The study looked at the EPHA3-centred signalling network and, again, this is preclinical rather than human evidence.

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Research: The Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Hydroxyoleocanthal Attenuates Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer via Modulation of EPHA3-Centered Oncogenic Network
View the study on PubMed
Read the full paper on PubMed Central

Taken together, these studies help explain why specific olive-oil phenolics continue to attract scientific interest.

They do not establish EVOO as a cancer treatment, but they provide increasingly detailed evidence about the biological activity of compounds naturally present in phenolic-rich olive oils.

Research into Mediterranean-style diets, olive oil and metabolic health has produced encouraging findings relating to cardiovascular risk factors and the incidence of type 2 diabetes.

A systematic review and meta-analysis found that people in the highest olive-oil intake category had a 16% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those in the lowest category. Among people already living with diabetes, olive-oil interventions were also associated with reductions in HbA1c and fasting blood glucose.

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Research: Olive oil in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies and intervention trials
View the study on PubMed

Olive-oil polyphenols are also being investigated for their interactions with oxidative stress, inflammatory pathways and metabolic function.

If you are living with diabetes, olive oil can be a healthy part of your overall diet alongside appropriate medical and dietary advice.

Oxidative stress occurs when the balance between oxidants and the body’s antioxidant defences gets disrupted.

This is one area where the wording around olive oil is particularly clear because the authorised European health claim specifically relates to protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress.

For qualifying oils, the beneficial effect is obtained from 20g per day when that amount supplies at least 5mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives.

Human clinical research has also shown that the phenolic content of olive oil can influence LDL oxidation and resistance to oxidative damage.

Related research:
Randomised trial on olive-oil phenolics and LDL oxidation
Randomised crossover trial on phenolic content in LDL

This is one reason why it is useful to look at the individual phenolic composition of an olive oil, rather than simply calling it “high in antioxidants”.Is olive oil associated with living longer?

Large observational studies have found that people who consume more olive oil tend to have lower mortality rates.

Higher olive-oil intake has been associated with lower all-cause mortality as well as lower mortality from cardiovascular, cancer, neurodegenerative and respiratory causes.

A meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies found a 17% lower risk of all-cause mortality among people with higher olive-oil consumption compared with lower consumption.

These findings cannot prove that olive oil alone is responsible. People who consume more olive oil may differ in many other ways too, from their overall diet and physical activity to socioeconomic and lifestyle factors.

But the consistency of these associations across large populations adds to the wider evidence supporting olive oil as a valuable part of a healthy long-term eating pattern.

Rather than thinking of EVOO as a medicine, it makes more sense to see it as one of the defining foods within a way of eating repeatedly associated with better long-term health.

High-polyphenol EVOO contains higher concentrations of specific compounds that scientists are actively investigating.

That is what makes the phenolic profile so interesting.

Human research already shows that olive-oil phenolics can influence processes such as LDL oxidation, while compounds including oleocanthal, oleacein and hydroxytyrosol continue to be investigated for a much wider range of biological effects.

The overall quality of the oil still matters.

A good extra virgin olive oil is about more than just polyphenols. Chemical quality, freshness, flavour, provenance, production, storage and traceability all count.

With The Governor, we therefore look at both total and individual phenolic compounds, alongside recognised chemical quality measurements and sensory characteristics.

There is no need to drink extra virgin olive oil as a “shot”.

Olive oil can easily become part of your everyday meals, often replacing other fats.

The authorised olive-oil polyphenol health claim refers to a daily intake of 20g for oils containing the qualifying concentration of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives.

You can use EVOO throughout the day: drizzle it over vegetables, salads, soups or yoghurt, mix it into dressings and dips, or use it as part of your everyday cooking.

The key is consistency within a balanced diet rather than treating olive oil as a medicine or supplement.

Mediterranean populations don’t traditionally consume olive oil in isolation.

It forms part of a broader dietary pattern centred around vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains, nuts, fish and other minimally processed foods.

This makes a real difference when interpreting nutrition research.

A health outcome associated with the Mediterranean diet cannot automatically be attributed to olive oil alone.

Likewise, an association with olive-oil consumption doesn’t prove that one individual polyphenol produced the result.

But that does not diminish olive oil’s importance within the pattern.

The strongest case for making EVOO part of your daily diet is also one of the simplest: it combines culinary quality with an unusually well-researched nutritional profile, bringing healthy monounsaturated fats and naturally occurring polyphenols into an eating pattern repeatedly associated with long-term health.

The Governor is an early-harvest extra virgin olive oil produced on Corfu from the island’s native Lianolia olive.

We analyse every harvest because olive oil is a natural agricultural product, and its composition changes with growing conditions, olive maturity and production.

For the 2025 Limited Edition harvest, analysis recorded:

We also assess recognised chemical quality indicators, sensory characteristics and organic certification.

Taken together, these measurements give us a much clearer picture than simply looking at a single headline polyphenol number.

See our latest laboratory results and testing process

For us, the most interesting thing about The Governor’s scientific story is not simply the ability to attach a long list of disease names to an olive oil.

What matters is that researchers have repeatedly considered its phenolic composition interesting enough to use it in serious scientific investigation.

In some studies, people consumed The Governor directly.

In others, researchers used The Governor itself in experimental models.

And in a substantial body of preclinical work, scientists have used The Governor as a source from which to isolate oleocanthal and other olive phenolics.

These studies have investigated subjects ranging from blood-brain barrier function and mild cognitive impairment to CLL, breast cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer and colorectal cancer.

The Governor’s presence in these papers does not mean that the oil has been proven to prevent or treat those diseases.

What it does tell us is something more measured and, in our view, genuinely exciting:
The Governor is a naturally phenolic-rich extra virgin olive oil whose composition has repeatedly made it useful to scientists studying the biology of olive-oil phenolics — including in human clinical research.

For readers who would like to explore the science directly, these are some of the principal studies discussed in this article:

Human research

Mild cognitive impairment and blood-brain barrier function — 2022
Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Enhances the Blood–Brain Barrier Function in Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Controlled Trial
PubMed


Early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukaemia — 2022
The Effect of Dietary Intervention With High-Oleocanthal and Oleacein Olive Oil in Patients With Early-Stage Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Pilot Randomized Trial
PubMed
Full paper — PubMed Central


Wider human olive-oil research

Cardiovascular disease — PREDIMED
Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease with a Mediterranean Diet Supplemented with Extra-Virgin Olive Oil or Nuts
PubMed


Cardiovascular disease and mortality — 2022 meta-analysis
Olive oil consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality
PubMed


Dementia-related mortality — 2024
Consumption of Olive Oil and Diet Quality and Risk of Dementia-Related Death
JAMA Network Open
PubMed


Olive-oil phenolics and LDL oxidation — 2004
Effects of differing phenolic content in dietary olive oils on lipids and LDL oxidation
PubMed


Type 2 diabetes — systematic review and meta-analysis
Olive oil in the prevention and management of type 2 diabetes mellitus
PubMed


Glucose control and insulin sensitivity — 2026 systematic review
The Effect of Different Types of Olive Oil on Glucose Control and Insulin Sensitivity
PubMed


Preclinical and laboratory research

Alzheimer’s disease mouse model — 2018
Oleocanthal-rich extra-virgin olive oil enhances donepezil effect by reducing amyloid-β load and related toxicity in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease
PubMed


Blood-brain barrier and Alzheimer’s-related mechanisms — 2019
Oleocanthal-Rich Extra-Virgin Olive Oil Restores the Blood-Brain Barrier Function through NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibition Simultaneously with Autophagy Induction in TgSwDI Mice
PubMed


Triple-negative breast cancer — 2019
Novel Olive Oil Phenolic (−)-Oleocanthal (+)-Xylitol-Based Solid Dispersion Formulations with Potent Oral Anti-Breast Cancer Activities
PubMed
PubMed Central


Lung cancer — 2020
(−)-Oleocanthal as a Dual c-MET-COX2 Inhibitor for the Control of Lung Cancer
PubMed


Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer — 2022
Oleocanthal Attenuates Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Progression and Recurrence by Targeting SMYD2
PubMed


Colorectal cancer — 2025
The Olive Oil Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal Suppresses Colorectal Cancer Progression and Recurrence by Modulating SMYD2-EZH2 and c-MET Activation
PubMed


Invasive breast carcinoma — 2025
Harnessing Nature’s Chemistry: Deciphering Olive Oil Phenolics for the Control of Invasive Breast Carcinoma
PubMed


Neuroendocrine prostate cancer — 2025
The Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal as a Novel Intervention for Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancers: Therapeutic and Molecular Insights
PubMed


Oleacein and neuroendocrine prostate cancer — 2025/26
The Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Hydroxyoleocanthal Attenuates Neuroendocrine Prostate Cancer via Modulation of EPHA3-Centered Oncogenic Network
PubMed


KRAS-mutant colorectal cancer — 2026
Lead Validation of the Olive Phenolic S-(−)-Oleocanthal for Effective Control of KRASG13D-Mutant Colorectal Cancer Progression and Metastasis
Nutrients — full study
PubMed

Extra virgin olive oil is a nutrient-rich food and a defining ingredient of the Mediterranean diet.

There is substantial human evidence supporting olive oil as part of a heart-healthy dietary pattern, while large observational studies have associated regular olive-oil consumption with lower overall, cardiovascular and dementia-related mortality.

Olive-oil polyphenols add another important dimension. Their role in protecting blood lipids from oxidative stress is recognised in an authorised European health claim, while compounds such as oleocanthal, oleacein and hydroxytyrosol remain active areas of scientific investigation.

The Governor occupies an unusual place within that story.

It has been directly consumed in human clinical research into mild cognitive impairment and early-stage chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, while The Governor EVOO and phenolics isolated from it have also been used across numerous laboratory and animal studies.

Some of these findings are genuinely fascinating.

A laboratory experiment, an animal model, a small pilot clinical trial and a large randomised clinical trial all answer different questions. But taken together, they help scientists build a progressively clearer picture of how extra virgin olive oil and its phenolic compounds may interact with human health.

No individual extra virgin olive oil, including The Governor, should be presented as a treatment or cure for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, arthritis or any other medical condition.

But that does not mean the positive evidence should be understated.

Some benefits of olive oil are already supported by substantial human research. Others remain promising and rapidly developing fields of investigation.

For us, transparency means recognising both.

Know where your olive oil comes from. Understand how it is produced. Look for up-to-date analysis. Pay attention to its phenolic profile, but also to its freshness, flavour and quality, especially when you read about exciting new olive-oil research.