 Okay, you know I'm a big fan of olive oil and a big fan of avocados, but what about avocado oil? Truth is avocado oil is not one of my favorites. So why the craze about avocado oil? Well, here's what people like about it. First of all, it has a very high smoke point. Smoke point refers to the temperature that you bring an oil up to before smoke rises out of the oil. And quite frankly, smoking oil is not exactly a pleasant thing to be around. And people assume that a smoke point has to do with the oil oxidizing and going bad. In fact, it has nothing to do with that, as we'll talk about in a minute. But it makes it for a very good cooking oil for that point. Now avocado oil is a lot better than most seed oils. The vast majority of seed oils and bean oils, like for instance, peanut oil, like for instance corn oil, cotton seed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, you name the grape seed oil. These actually are very damaging. So avocado oil is mostly a monounsaturated fat oleic acid. It's cheaper in general than extra virgin olive oil. So those are the things that people like. The problem is, like most things, the good does not outweigh the bad. Now unlike olive oil, avocado oil really doesn't have a very high polyphenol content. And you've heard me say over and over again that the reason you're using olive oil is not for the oleic acid, the monounsaturated fat. That's not the reason you're using it. In fact, oleic acid really doesn't have a big health benefit at all. You're using olive oil to get the polyphenols into you. And olive oil has a lot more polyphenols than avocado oil. The other problem with avocado oil is there are unfortunately a number of studies that show most of the commercial avocado oil in this country has been adulterated with other oils. And that's to keep the price down. You can't taste these oils. You can't tell the texture difference in these oils. But a lot of unfortunately avocado oil with testing shows the presence of the nasty omega-6 fat, the short chain omega-6 fat called linoleic acid. So buyer beware with avocado oil. Now are eating avocados different than using avocado oil? Absolutely. Why? Avocados have some fantastic beneficial fiber that your gut microbiome really, really likes. So yes, it has the same fats as avocado oil, but you're taking away all the benefit of those fibers that's really the reason you're eating the avocado in the first place. It's the same way, believe it or not, olives are kind of like avocados are to avocado oil and olive oil. They're pressed from the olives and it turns out olives are equally really good for you as avocados. Now why is one avocado a day great? Most of all studies show it does not make you fat. But the most impressive part is that the avocado helps you absorb multiple other polyphenols and antioxidants from the food you eat. So that's why putting an avocado in your salad like I had last night is really the way to go. Okay, so in my opinion, olive oil is the clear winner over these two oils. Believe it or not, is the best cooking oil. People have been cooking with olive oil for over 5,000 years. It does have a lower smoke point. That means it starts smoking, but that does not mean it oxidizes. In fact, comparing olive oil against coconut oil, which has one of the highest smoke points, olive oil oxidizes less than coconut oil, one of the standards for high smoke point. So use olive oil to cook with, use olive oil to put it on your food. Again, just because it's smoking does not mean it's oxidizing. Finally, oils oxidize the longer you leave them out. And regardless of the type of oil you're using, whether it's avocado oil, whether it's olive oil, make sure you keep it in a dark bottle. Make sure you keep it in a dark place. And once you open it up, it starts going bad. So please buy oils in small containers. That way you'll use it rapidly, and it won't go rancid or oxidize. And that's when you want to do it. Why do you want olive oil? I've said it over, I don't know, too many times. There are multiple studies showing that the polyphenols in olive oil have dramatic health benefits. The Predamid study out of Spain, the Leonhardt diet out of France, all of these studies show the immense benefit of adding olive oil into your diet. Okay, let's talk one more thing. Coconut oil. Now, coconut oil, as I mentioned, has a very high smoke point. And it is a useful cooking oil for that purpose. But coconut oil has one-tenth the polyphenol content of olive oil, one-tenth. So if you're comparing the two, there's no benefit. Secondly, many of you carry the ApoE4 mutation, the, quote, Alzheimer's gene, 30% of people carry that mutation. And saturated fats, particularly from coconut oil, are definitely detrimental to you. So if you've never had your ApoE4 status checked, one in three of you watching this show or listening have this gene, so why would you take a chance? Now the good news is, coconut oil is used primarily to get MCT oil extracted from it. Most people don't realize that coconut oil does not have a lot of medium chain triglycerides in it. But we can extract those MCTs and those are actually beneficial to ApoE4 patients and beneficial to all of us. But don't assume because MCT oil in general comes from coconut oil that coconut oil is a great source of MCTs, it's not. There's plenty of other reasons to use different oils. Whenever we're using oils, you've got to ask yourself, what health benefit is using this oil bringing to me? Otherwise, there's absolutely no use for adding oils to your diet. For instance, perillo oil is my favorite oil for cooking, for mixing in with olive oil for my salad dressings, and I've written a lot about the health benefits of perillo oil. It has the highest content of alpha-linolenic acid, that short chain omega-3 oil. It was the basis of the benefit of the Leonhardt diet study. It's really good for you and in the upcoming book, you'll see the health benefits of alpha-linolenic acid are just mind-boggling. Perillo oil is a great source of two other longevity producing compounds. Perillo avocado oil doesn't have alpha-linolenic acid, neither does extra virgin olive oil, and get some alpha-linolenic acid in your diet. By the way, flaxseed oil is another great source of alpha-linolenic acid. More amazing episodes just like this one, watch now. And metabolic flexibility is at the core of having great-looking skin, of having great healthy skin cells.