Olive Oil Really Does Raise Testosterone

This one isn't a myth — there's a human study behind it. But almost everyone gets it wrong, and what matters most isn't the amount, it's how many live polyphenols are left in your bottle.

Listen, I once devoted an entire article to dismantling the myth about ginger — supposedly it raised testosterone by 17.7%. One unremarkable number, one overstretched study, a whole pile of pseudo-science. So when I now tell you that olive oil can raise testosterone by around 17%, you have every right to roll your eyes and close this tab.

But this time there’s a catch. Behind that number sits a real human study — 60 men, randomization, three weeks of supplementation. And their testosterone levels really did shoot up — measured in the blood, in the morning, fasted, by a laboratory method, not from questionnaire self-reports.

Study link:

Sounds like just another miracle booster from Instagram? No. It’s also not what the internet usually tries to sell you. The truth about olive oil and testosterone is more interesting than any of the extremes — and it doesn’t depend on how much of it you drink, but on what’s actually inside and whether it’s still fully preserved.

The two ways everyone gets it wrong

Olive oil has split people into two camps, and neither one is right. The first claims: “food doesn’t affect testosterone, olive oil is just pseudo-science.” The second shouts: “olive oil boosts T by 17% — a spoonful a day.” The first dismisses a concrete study, the second turns a single result into a miracle cure.

The thing is different, though — in this study the men didn’t get extra olive oil. They simply swapped butter for olive oil. First two weeks they ate butter, then three weeks olive oil. That’s why the question isn’t “is olive oil magic,” but “how much of the effect is the olive oil, and how much is removing a worse fat and replacing it with a better one.” That’s an entirely different story than “olive oil = booster.”

On top of that, everyone who parrots those 17% skips the background: whether dietary fat regulates testosterone at all is still a contested question. One meta-analysis says “yes,” another says “no.” I’ll show both results in a moment, because honesty toward the data matters more than a catchy headline. And most importantly — nobody asks whether that “extra virgin” from a 14-złoty bottle still has the components that actually worked in the study.

Olive oil isn’t a testosterone “booster.” It’s a substitute and a shield.

A substitute for a worse fat, from which the body makes hormones anyway, and at the same time an antioxidant shield for the cells that produce testosterone. Its real strength isn’t measured in spoonfuls, but in the amount of living polyphenols — it’s them, not the fat itself, that do the work. This isn’t a convenient truth for either side. Those 17% don’t come from a drug in a bottle labeled “olive oil.” It’s the effect of fat quality and protection of the Leydig cells — and an oxidized, adulterated “extra virgin” from the supermarket has almost none of what actually works.

1. The study that really exists

Here’s the crux: Derouiche and colleagues (2013) published their results in Natural Product Communications. The study covered 60 healthy men aged 23–40. For the first two weeks everyone ate butter — the baseline. Then the participants were randomly split: some received virgin argan oil, the others extra virgin olive oil, at 25 ml per day (about two tablespoons) for three weeks. Blood was drawn at 6:30 a.m. after a 12-hour fast; testosterone and LH were determined by a radioimmunoassay method.

In the olive oil group: total testosterone rose by 17.4%, LH by 42.6%. Both results statistically significant (p < 0.0001). In the argan group: testosterone +19.9%, LH +18.5%. DHEAS, body weight, BMI, blood pressure and calorie intake did not change — so this was not an effect of losing weight or eating more.

A key point the internet often skips: they measured total testosterone, not free. They did not measure SHBG or free testosterone. Anyone who claims that “olive oil raises free testosterone” is inventing something that isn’t in the study. All we have is evidence for a rise in total T and LH. Full stop.

Honest caveats: small sample (30 people per group), short intervention (3 weeks), control — butter; so part of the effect may come from swapping saturated fat for monounsaturated, rather than from the “magic” of olive oil. One population (Moroccan men), no classic placebo, a within-subject comparison. It’s a real human study, not a myth, but one small study. Treat the 17% as “this happened in thirty guys,” not as a guarantee for you.

2. Mechanism — a substitute and a shield, not a booster

Why would this work? There are two routes, and neither is “olive oil as a steroid.”

The first route — fat quality. Testosterone is made from cholesterol, so the body needs fat as building material and environment. That’s why low-fat diets lower testosterone levels. The meta-analysis by Whittaker and Wu (2021) showed that diets with less than ~20% of calories coming from fat lower testosterone by 10–15% — especially in men from Europe and North America. However, a newer meta-analysis by Soltani et al. (2025) on 888 participants found no significant effect. So the thesis “fat rules testosterone” today has two contradictory results. Olive oil fits the first narrative as a source of monounsaturated oleic acid, but let’s not assume the problem is already solved.

The second route — protection of the Leydig cells. The cells that produce testosterone are very sensitive to oxidative stress; free radicals inhibit their work. Extra virgin olive oil isn’t only fat, it’s also polyphenols (oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol) and tocopherols (vitamin E) — potent antioxidants. Animal and in vitro studies have shown that olive oil’s components increase the activity of the enzymes 3β-HSD and 17β-HSD as well as the transport protein StAR, and in rats testosterone rises spectacularly, including enlargement of the testicles. These are animal data, often at high doses, so don’t transfer them directly to humans. The direction is clear: protect the “factory” from rust, and production improves.

An additional fact. In one human study LH rose by as much as 42.6%, and LH comes from the pituitary, not the testicles. This suggests that part of the action takes place at the central level, although you can’t draw strong conclusions from one small study.

Practical consequence. If oleic acid and polyphenols are what work, then what counts is the quality of the fat and the content of these compounds — not the mere fact that something is called “olive oil.” That’s exactly the variable almost everyone misses.

3. The variable nobody talks about: quality

The polyphenols, oleuropein and tocopherols in olive oil are the very same molecules destroyed by light, heat, time and adulteration. What the study demonstrated is at the same time the most perishable part of the product. Oxidized, old “extra virgin” olive oil in a transparent bottle on a bright shelf may no longer have what actually matters.

The problem is bigger than you think. A UC Davis report found that most imported “extra virgin” exceeds the standards — it’s oxidized, rancid, or blended with cheaper refined oils. Adulterating olive oil is one of the oldest food frauds and it’s still thriving. Buying the cheapest “extra virgin” with those 17% of acid in mind, you may be holding a bottle that lost its active components before you even opened it.

That’s why quality isn’t snobbery — it’s the dose of active substance. You have a free biomarker in your throat. Real olive oil full of polyphenols stings, gives a peppery, slightly burning, bitterish aftertaste at the back of the throat, sometimes even to the point of coughing. It’s precisely the polyphenols (e.g. oleocanthal) that trigger that burning. A mild, sweet, “smooth” olive oil without character is usually a poor or tired oil. Your esophagus will judge it better than the label.

How to buy: look for the harvest date (not just “best before”), because polyphenols drop with every month — choose oil from the most recent harvest. Choose dark containers — bottles or tins, not transparent glass. Go for a single origin / specific region, rather than an anonymous blend “from EU and non-EU countries.” After opening, keep it cool and dark, use it within a few weeks to a few months — oxygen and light destroy precisely the compounds you’re paying for.

How to approach it?

• Treat olive oil as a fat substitute, not as a supplement. Replace butter, margarine or cheap refined oils with it, instead of pouring it over everything. The studies show the effect of swapping, not adding.

• Use a dose of about 2 tablespoons (25 ml) a day. Don’t increase it recklessly — olive oil is calorie-dense, and excess calories and belly fat will lower your testosterone more than olive oil raises it.

• Choose olive oil for polyphenols, not price. Look for a product from the latest harvest, in dark glass or a tin, from a single source. A distinct peppery aftertaste in the throat is your biomarker of quality and active-substance content.

• Store olive oil in a cool, dark place and use it up within a few weeks of opening. Standing the bottle on the windowsill by the stove is a straight road to oxidizing a valuable product.

• Don’t fry with it at high temperatures, because you’ll destroy the polyphenols. Consume good olive oil raw or use it for finishing dishes. For intense frying, choose a different fat.

• Don’t treat olive oil like medicine. The study results (17% rise in total testosterone in 30 men) are a hint, not hard proof of a hormonal revolution. Bring it into your diet, but don’t count on it to replace healthy habits.

• Be rigorous. The study concerned total testosterone and LH, not free testosterone or SHBG. Don’t draw unwarranted conclusions — don’t confuse these concepts in public discussions.

Summary:

Let’s go back to ginger. It’s a myth because it rested on overstretched numbers and the lack of a sensible mechanism of action. Olive oil is an entirely different matter: it has human studies, a concrete biological explanation and real value. It’s not a “miracle booster,” but a better fat and a shield for your Leydig cells.

The key thing: those famous 17% don’t sit in the name on the label. They sit in the polyphenols, which oxidize in a flash in an open bottle standing in the light.

Next time, before you believe the numbers, run one test: drink a spoonful of olive oil on an empty stomach. Does it burn in your throat and trigger a cough reflex? It works. Is it mild and smooth like water? You’re not holding what you need.

Hubert