Virgin Olive Oil Ranks First in a New Nutritional Quality Score Due to Its Compositional Profile

Abstract

Dietary oils play a crucial role in maintaining a healthy diet. However, with the increasing number of oils available, it became a challenging task for food producers and consumers to select the best oil for their needs. In this work, an easy-to-understand nutrition quality score was created, using a model that included beneficial lipid compounds criteria according to the dietary recommendations published by international food and health organizations. The algorithm assigned points for each component of the model considering their content in each particular oil. The points were added up and the fats and oils were classified by the corresponding percentile. As a result, among the 32 edible oils that were evaluated, virgin olive oil ranked first with a score of 100. All plant oils, except for margarine and coconut oil, ranked above the 50th percentile. Receiver-operator curves and regression models showed that saturated fatty acids may be able to predict the score, and thus, the nutritional quality of the oils. In conclusion, the proposed nutritional quality score would promote healthy and nutritious food options for consumers and would provide food producers with a valuable tool to select high-quality oils for their products, ensuring that they meet the nutritional requirements.

Keywords: bioactive compounds; fat; fatty acids; nutrients; nutritional quality; oil; score.

Figure 1

Radar chart for the score points assigned to SFA, oleic acid (18:1), linoleic acid (18:2), α-linolenic acid (18:3), eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (EPA + DHA), trans fatty acids (TFA), hydroxytyrosol (OHTyr), tocopherols and phytosterols in VOO.

Figure 2

Heat map charts showing the content in SFA (A), oleic acid (B), linoleic acid (C), α-linolenic acid (D), tocopherols (E), and phytosterols (F) of the edible oils evaluated. Colors show the areas with more or less (light blue) oils and fats with similar scores and concentrations of a particular component expressed as frequency.