Olive Oil Reduces Weight Gain and Brain Inflammation By 30%.

In 2025, Lucas Santos and a team from Brazil studied Wistar rats fed a high-fat diet from weaning to mimic obesity. They split them into four groups: standard diet, standard diet with extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO), high-fat diet, and high-fat diet with EVOO. They checked body weight, blood sugar, satiety, and brain inflammation markers in the hypothalamic arcuate nucleus.

EVOO with high-fat diet rats had 20-30% less weight gain and lower BMI than high-fat diet alone, plus reduced blood sugar and leptin levels (a hunger hormone). It also cut brain inflammation markers like IL-6 by 25%, IL-1β by 30%, and TNF-α, improving satiety and metabolism compared to high-fat diet rats.

Add extra-virgin olive oil to your meals daily to potentially reduce inflammation and support weight control.