Olive Oil Calories

Olive oil is considered as a 'wonder food', with excellent aroma and taste and innumerable health benefits. It forms an indispensable part of Mediterranean diet. In fact, no Mediterranean salad would be complete without generous amount of olive oil as dressing. The popularity of olive oil has spread outside Europe, as many health conscious people are readily switching to olive oil for its immense health benefits. However, most fitness freaks join the olive oil fan club without bothering to check the number of calories in olive oil. So, here is an account of olive oil calories according to its varieties.

Olive Oil Calories

Olive Oil Nutrition Facts
You could have presumed olive oil to be very light and low on calories since, it is recommended for weight loss. Surprisingly, this is not the fact, as the calorie figures suggest otherwise. There are a whopping 120 calories in one tablespoon of olive oil! However, before you start doubting the health benefits of olive oil, let me assure you that this high calorie content does not affect the value of olive oil, as the quality of these calories also matter a lot. Olive oil contains 14 grams unsaturated fat, without any cholesterol. In fact, olive oil reduces the amount of LDL (bad cholesterol) and increases the amount of HDL (good cholesterol) in the body. Moreover, olive oil contains no sugar and sodium. The iron content in olive oil constitutes to about 7 percent.

Olive Oil Types and Calorie Content
Olive oil is classified in different types depending upon its degree of purity. Following are the types of olive oil and the corresponding number of calories in olive oil.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Extra virgin olive oil is the olive oil in its purest form. It is treated like a fine wine, thus no two groves can produce extra virgin olive oil that tastes alike. It is cold pressed, meaning, the oil is directly extracted from the olive fruits, without any processing. Extra virgin olive oil has low boiling point, thus has to be cooked very slowly. The acidity of extra virgin olive oil is less than 1%. There are about 126 calories in extra virgin olive oil and they account for 'good calories'.

Virgin Olive Oil
Virgin olive oil comes from the second pressing of the olive fruit. It is slightly inferior to extra virgin olive oil in terms of flavor and taste. It is also slightly more acidic than extra virgin olive oil, with acidity of about 3.3%. However, industry processing limits the acidity to up to 2% in the producing country.

Refined or Pomace Olive Oil
Refined olive oil is extracted from the left over pulp and skin of the olive fruit. It is extracted after several chemical and physical processes. Needless to say, this is an inferior quality olive oil with highly diminished nutrition value. It cannot be used for cooking, unless it is blended with extra virgin oil. It has no resemblance with the first quality olive oil whatsoever.

Pure Olive Oil
The label on the bottle which describes it as 100% olive oil, is highly misleading. This is actually an inferior quality olive oil, with small proportion of extra virgin oil mixed with it. Most stores sell it as pure olive oil. There are about 125 calories in pure olive oil.

Olive oil calories, though in large numbers, do not affect the nutritional quotient of olive oil. Thus, you can continue to reap the health benefits of olive oil like you always did.