Olive oil might be able to increase testosterone, but there is a catch.
Let’s dive in.
Hans here! I increased my testosterone to 1254ng/dl and have been maintaining high T naturally. I’ve turned myself into an Alpha Energy Male.
An Alpha Energy Male with high energy, fast recovery, high sex drive, and confidence.
This is why I research obsessively, experiment and write, and have been doing so for the past decade.
Hope you enjoy and join me on this journey.
Olive oil on testosterone
Study 1
In this study, they fed men 25ml of olive oil or argan oil for 3 weeks and testosterone increased in both groups (R).
In the olive oil group, testosterone increased from 520 to 615ng/dl. It’s almost a hundred-point increase in testosterone just after three weeks, which is quite significant. Both Olive and Argan seem to be quite effective and that the T-boosting effect is not unique to Olive oil.
Study 2
In another study, they gave amateur and professional marathon runners 20ml of olive oil of the Blanquet variety, which is about 2 tbsp (R).
- Group 1: Amateur + 20ml olive oil
- Group 2: Professional + 20ml olive oil
- Group 3: Professional without olive oil.
They picked the Blanquet variety because it was high in anti-oxidants (vitamin E, phenolic compounds, etc) making it great at reducing oxidative stress induced by hard training.
These guys were tested 4 times in total.
- 1st test: Baseline (before olive or training (blue column).
- 2nd test: After a 10 week preparation training program for the half marathon.
- 3rd test: Immediately after the half marathon.
- 4th test: 24 hours after the half marathon.
As you can see, the olive oil didn’t increase testosterone in amateur runners, but it did prevent the drop in testosterone induced by the training (as you can see in group 3). The professionals receiving olive oil got a decent boost in testosterone despite hard training.
Additionally, you can see that olive oil is a great adaptogen and prevented the increase in cortisol during hard training. You can also see how high cortisol spiked in the group that didn’t receive olive oil.
Oleuporein and testosterone
Oleuporein, one of the active components in olive oil, has been shown to increase testosterone in rats.
The researchers added oleuropein to the diet of rats in a dose of 0.1g/100g of feed. The average rat consumes about 20 grams of feed per day. This translates to them consuming about 20mg of oleuropein per day. The human equivalent dose is 0.32mg/kg (32mg for a 100kg guy).
But as you can see in the graph below, the 40% protein group experienced the biggest increase in testicular testosterone. There must be some sort of synergy between casein/protein and oleuropein when it comes to testosterone. On the flip side, oleuropein was equally effective in all groups at keeping cortisol low.
Oleuropein aglycone on LH
The researchers injected rats intravenously with oleuropein aglycone in different doses to see how it would affect LH (R). The 3.8mg dose seemed to be the most effective.
Oleuropein is naturally converted to oleuropein aglycone in the body and oleuropein aglycone is absorbed about 13.5 times greater than oleuropein (R).
If you want to get the same LH-boosting effect, you’d have to take 11.6mg/kg of oleuropein aglycone intravenously. Let’s round that off to 100mg dose. Perhaps oleuropein aglycone has a 10% absorption rate in the gut, now you have to take 1g+ of oleuropein aglycone just to get the same level in the body as intravenous administration. Which is a really big dose, plus, so far you can only buy oleuropein and not aglycone.
So chances of you getting an LH boost from olive oil or olive leaf extract are very small.
But don’t be discouraged because olive oil by itself has already been shown to increase testosterone. So you might still get a boost.
Olive oil increases SHBG
Olive oil has been shown to increase SHBG (R).
In this study, they had two groups use either olive oil or sunflower oil for cooking. The only “big” difference between the 2 groups is the 2% higher monounsaturated fat (MUFA) intake from olive oil. Most of the MUFA is due to oleic acid.
Only a 2% difference led to a 5-point difference in SHBG levels.
My hypothesis is that olive oil increases SHBG, which then leads to higher testosterone, but free distortion remains the same ultimately. No boost in free T despite a higher total T.
Why olive oil increases SHBG
There is a positive correlation between SHBG and MUFAs and an inverse correlation between saturated fatty acid intake. Higher MUFA intake = higher SHBG and higher saturated fat intake = lower SHBG.
So if you’re primarily using avocado oil and/or olive oil, you will end up with higher levels of SHBG and potentially lower levels of free distortion. All of this and much more I discuss in my course on how to increase your free testosterone and how to lower your SHBG levels.
Why olive oil might increase testosterone
Olive oil increases SHBG
High SHBG often means high testosterone. Because SHBG binds testosterone and lowers free testosterone. Once free testosterone drops, the body releases more LH to produce more testosterone. Therefore total testosterone goes up, but free T remains the same.
Olive oil contains vitamin E
Vitamin E has been shown to help to increase testosterone. 720IU of vitamin E acetate has been shown to increase testosterone by over 100ng/dl. Another study found that vitamin E enhances the Leydig cell sensitivity to LH/HCG, therefore leading to higher testosterone when LH is sufficient.
Read all about vitamin E and testosterone in this article.
Olive oil is low in PUFA and high in antioxidants
Polyunsaturated fat (PUFA) can easily be damaged, which then causes a bunch of inflammation. This inflammation inhibits testosterone production. Additionally, the process of steroidogenesis produces a bunch of free radicals, which can damage the PUFA in the Leydig cells.
Therefore, because olive oil is low in PUFA and high in antioxidants, it can allow for proper steroidogenesis and keep oxidative stress and inflammation low.
With age, our ability to deal with reactive oxygen species goes down. And this makes the antioxidants you can get from the diet much more important the older you get.
Here is an example I want to show you. In this animal study, they had 4 groups: soy oil (S), olive oil (O), coconut oil (C) and grape seed oil (G). As you can see in the graph below, free radical biomarkers and antioxidant levels were the lowest and highest respectively, in the olive and coconut oil groups.
As a result, total free cholesterol, triglycerides and neutral lipids were the highest in the olive and coconut oil groups. More free cholesterol and lipids means more testosterone.
Here you can see that total and free testosterone were the highest in the olive and coconut oil groups.
The soy and grape seed groups had elevated oxidative stress and inflammation and low testosterone.
Olive oil improves thyroid function and is pro-metabolic
Olive leaf extract on thyroid function
Supplementing animals with the water extract of olive leaf has been shown to increase thyroid hormones T4 and T3 in a dose-dependent manner (R, R).
More T3 will mean faster metabolism, feeling better, deeper sleep, more energy, better mood, higher DHT, etc.
Olive leaf extract has also been shown to increase uncoupling protein and norepinephrine, which helps to increase the metabolic rate.
T3 works synergistically with norepinephrine to help your body burn fat and increase your core temperature. Again, the more protein they consumed, the higher norepinephrine went, probably because they had more precursors, namely tyrosine from the diet.
Summary
Olive oil and olive leaf extract can help to increase the sympathetic nervous system, help with energy motivation and drive, and maybe help with libido as well, increasing the metabolic rate.
Olive oil can increase testosterone, but it’s likely not going to increase your free testosterone. It might increase total and free testosterone in people with an excess amount of free radicals, or people who are doing really stressful things like running a marathon. Then it can mostly just help to prevent the drop in testosterone that you’re going to get from doing a stressful event.
But let’s say someone’s already healthy and they add olive oil. Chances are they’re not going to get a boost in free testosterone because the oleic acid is also increasing SHBG. So you have higher testosterone and SHBG, but free testosterone just remains the same.
If you have low free testosterone and high SHBG, maybe it’s not a good idea to consume high MUFA foods like avocado oil or olive oil.
In terms of the olive leaf extract, it might increase testosterone, but because of the bioavailability issues from oral absorption, I don’t know how big a boost in testosterone you’ll get.
Maybe it’s going to be a 50ng/dl, maybe a 100ng/dl. If you want to run this experiment, maybe try high protein intake, like 30 percent of your total calories, because it seems to be that high protein with olive leaf extract will give you the best results. Plus, higher protein intake has been shown to help with satiety and fat loss as well.
If you’re someone who wants to lose weight and speed up the metabolic rate, maybe it’s a good idea to eat more protein and combine it with a strong olive leaf extract. You will get more testosterone, faster metabolic rate, and higher thyroid function. All of the good stuff.
I hope you learned something new and I will check in the next one.
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