In the acnesphere, the overwhelming majority of articles and forum posts talk about olive oil when applied to the skin.
Some love it, some loathe it, but topical is where most of the discussion is centred. However, this is utterly topsy turvy.
Olive oil is an extremely powerful food, with huge potential for finally curing acne. If the stars align, it could even cure you completely, but you have to eat it.
There isn’t much subtlety. Topical olive oil will send your skin spiralling out of control, while dietary olive oil could give your skin a new leash of life. Here’s a handy guide to why…
One – oleic acid is a topical nightmare
Unquestionably the dodgiest feature of topical olive oil. Oleic acid will turn your all-important skin barrier into Swiss cheese, and that alone is a big enough reason to eat (or drink, whichever word you prefer) a fine Italian bottle instead.
Almost all skincare oils have some oleic acid. Grapeseed oil has 16% as a total of its fatty acids, while argan oil and tamanu oil have 46% and 31%. I recommend all three, but olive oil contains 70%, or even 85% if the stars of acne fate align.
The problem? Oleic acid is proven to increase trans-epidermal water loss (TEWL) after a single application, within just 24 hours.
Mirroring this, so is olive oil, extra virgin or not. Doctors are actually warning mothers against rubbing olive oil into their baby’s skin.
Rather than keratinocyte cells (proteins), olive oil disrupts the skin barrier’s fats, making them less densely packed.
On a molecular level, oleic acid binds with something called the n-methyl d-aspartate receptor, which is mysterious, but has numerous studies where activation boosts skin barrier function, in co-operation with the amino acids glycine and glutamate. In this study, blocking NDMA prevented the moisture loss from oleic acid.
Back in the physical world, the visible result will be dryness and flakiness, and more vulnerable skin to irritation. You might not realise that olive oil is the culprit, before applying more to beat the flakiness and getting trapped in a neverending cycle.
Plus, oleic acid penetrates the skin’s layers particularly easily. It’s used to enhance pharmaceutical drugs, and even enhances acne-friendly topical treatments like lavender oil, but this also allows olive oil to mix directly with structural skin fats. This study simply concluded that “higher levels of OA lead to greater disruptions of the skin barrier“.
Two – oleic acid is an anti-inflammatory miracle
The good news is that when eaten, oleic acid is harmless. In fact, it goes further than that: olive oil has a secret double life. Inside the body, oleic acid is tied with omega 3 from fish as the single most anti-inflammatory fat.
This 2004 study by Dr Baur replaced dietary saturated fat or trans fats with oleic acid, causing the pro-inflammatory chemical interleukin-6 to fall massively. A giant Japanese experiment tested 1556 men and 1461 women aged 35-60, and found that oleic acid decreased C-reactive protein, a classic bloodstream biomarker of inflammation.
Humanity and mice joined forces in this 2018 experiment, where sepsis-ridden mice took oleic acid for 14 days. The results were fantastic; the pro-inflammatory chemicals TNF-a and IL-6 (again) fell, while the calming IL-10 rose. All this can be achieved by drizzling olive oil on salad.
While there’s no proof, oleic acid might work by controlling PPARs in fat tissue. There’s been a big fuss lately about how fat cells aren’t inert. They’re actually biologically active, and in particular, by pumping out inflammatory chemicals, which PPARs initiate.
Applying olive oil won’t give you any of these benefits. Oleic acid can put the immune system on a leash, fundamentally cooling your entire body rather than dampening individual inflamed pimples. Another bonus in the sepsis study was decreasing corticosterone: a powerful stress hormone.
Three – olive oil can nourish your gut bacteria
It’s one of olive oil’s least known powers, and it’s easily the strongest when eaten.
We’re talking about its prebiotics, the gut strengthening lactobacillus bacteria which hide naturally on an olive’s slimy skin. A Gordel olive has 100 billion bacteria, and the star of the show is lactobacillus pentosus, which looks particularly promising against toxic heavy metals like mercury.
Table olive farmers use l. pentosus in “spontaneous fermentation”. Rather than adding bacteria like in yogurt, they let the plant’s natural strains go nuts. L. plantarum is also plentiful in olives, and both strains end up in the oil you eat.
More widely, prebiotics are vital for all acne patients. You need to crowd out the malicious strains, strains which decrease acne nutrient absorption and pump out inflammatory molecules. Olive oil is already known to decrease helicobacter pylori in the gut (study), a species common in the inflammatory skin disease rosacea. H. pylori increases every inflammatory chemical going: IL-6, IL-8, IL-1beta, and TNF-a.
Lactobacilli even create emolin, a moonlighting protein which blocks the receptors that malicious strains normally target.
Topical olive oil will work to a small extent here. Lactobacilli can ferment glucose on the skin’s surface and pump out antibacterial lactate, killing p.acnes within 4 weeks. But the h.pylori destruction takes swallowing this oil over the edge.
Topical bacteria has great potential, but the oral studies outnumber them 10:1.
Four – tales of doom
Tossing aside studies completely, olive oil has a particularly vast catalogue of horror stories on social media.
At the 5-7 day mark, people suddenly explode with a mass of pimples and whiteheads. Beforehand, they usually get overly optimistic when their skin acquires a healthy glow.
Some people never experience this, but others take to forums to warn others. Possible reasons? The American Academy of Dermatology gives olive oil a comedogenicity rating of 2/5, which is inferior to argan oil at 0/5. Pore size is also controlled by genetics, with some physically smaller. It could be the skin barrier chaos again, but the neverending breakouts are way beyond what you’d expect from these theories.
Meanwhile, horror stories are almost unheard of after eating olive oil. In my acne travels, I’ve never seen one.
Some mostly acne-friendly plants have serious sensitising compounds, like tomatoes (tomatine) and potatoes (solanine). Some are officially flawless, but occasionally cause unexplained breakouts like oranges or kale.
Olive oil is the safest of the safe. As a topical treatment, however, it’s playing with fire. There seems to be a mysterious X factor that combusts on the skin’s surface.
Five – nothing unique compared to oral
Now here’s where things get serious. If olive oil contained an awe-inspiring power that dermatologists had been searching for centuries for, the risk might be worth it.
Maybe there’s a flavonoid antioxidant that targets p.acnes bacteria above all other species, or maybe it absolutely crushes collagen-recycling enzymes like collagenase. It’s possible to circumvent its dangers; dilution with a low-oleic oil like grapeseed will work nicely.
However, the truth is that olive oil’s powers can all be acquired by eating it. The vitamin E is the real star of the show. The vitamin E is why if you’re lucky, olive oil can completely clear your skin.
Vitamin E expertly suppresses free radicals and prevents clogged pores. It’s the top nutrient for acne alongside zinc. Olive oil contains 10% of the RDI per tablespoon, but this will be distributed to your face just as nicely if you eat it.
True, topical application is more direct and concentrated, but dietary vitamin E is built directly into your sebum (oil) as a defensive antioxidant during creation. Sunlight protection is a similar story, a built-in shield.
Topical olive oil can reduce the minimal erythemal dose (MED) and deactivate 8-OHdG, a free radical generated by UV rays. However, the important compounds probably end up in the skin when eaten too, and there’s already studies on skin cancer prevention.
The only exception is wound healing. Topical olive oil increased collagen reconstruction in injured fats, but the studies weren’t anything legendary. By contrast, roasting potatoes in olive oil has powers which topical doesn’t.
Six – nothing unique compared to other topical treatments
You could argue that why not use both? Sure, the powers are identical for oral and topical, but the more sun protection the merrier, right? It’s double the strength for double the clear skin.
But in a similar vein, every olive oil benefit can be found in a much safer topical treatment.
Grapeseed oil contains even more vitamin E, with 20% per tablespoon. Meanwhile, its oleic acid is just 12%. It also lacks the horror stories, the air of danger as notorious as 1920s Chicago. Argan oil is also excellent for vitamin E, and the wound healing powers are waiting for you in the blue-tinged form of tamanu oil. This remedy is really special, increasing collagen 1.4 fold after 24 hours according to this study.
Which illustrates another fact: topical olive oil lacks any really outstanding acne powers. Reducing 8-OHdG is pretty cool, but compare it to rose water, which inhibits neutrophils, a specific soldier of the immune system, which generates free radicals (superoxide anions). Mangosteen has 4 different studies directly on acne; one reduced pimples by 67.05%.
There’s nothing exciting enough about topical olive oil to justify a detailed plan to dilute its downsides.
Seven – untapped potential as a food
Ultimately, oral is where most of the mystery and excitement lies. It’s where the most interesting results are popping up.
For example, this study concluded that olive oil increased glutathione, but couldn’t explain why. That’s the strongest antioxidant manufactured inside the human body, so topical olive oil definitely wouldn’t achieve anything. There’s still its normal phenolic antioxidants like oleocanthal, but oral has two antioxidant powers. Olive oil lacks the basic glutathione ingredients like sulphur, glycine or the mineral magnesium. Therefore, a random untested antioxidant like oleocanthal or hydrotosol could be responsible.
That’s why it’s so interesting; instead of a tried and true method, we might have something new for acne.
Olive oil may also enhance nutrient absorption. Lutein is the eye-protecting carotenoid antioxidant of kale and spinach. It protects glow-giving molecules like beta-carotene, and olive oil enhances its absorption in the gut better than most other vegetable oils (study). It defeated palm oil, sunflower oil, soybean oil, corn oil. Topically, this clearly couldn’t happen.
Does olive oil miraculously enhance every compound then? No – this study tested the caffeic acid antioxidant from coffee, and coconut oil defeated both olive oil and soybean oil for intestinal absorption into the bloodstream. The varying molecular structures of compounds will inevitably be affected differently, but the point is that the future is brighter for olive oil as a food.
Eight – only one lives up to the hype
By listening to adverts, you’ll probably get the impression that olive oil is a sunny Mediterranean beach in liquid form.
Olive oil is a big part of Italian culture, and you can acquire the same glowing skin that they have. Olive oil is rich in nourishing vitamin A, E and K. It’s perfect for bags under eyes and wiping away wrinkles as casually as a coffee stain.
Many articles immediately jump ahead to the many inventive recipes possible, like lemon juice and turmeric paste. They forget one thing: whether it’s a decent oil in the first place!
Quite simply, topical olive oil doesn’t live up to any of its hype. Whereas if you change the channel to oral olive oil, every legend seems to be true. It helps diabetes? Studies show that olive oil improves insulin sensitivity. You’ll get a heart as strong as a mountain troll? Among 740,000 people, olive oil was the only monounsaturated fat to reduce both heart attack and stroke risk (study).
Oleocanthal from olive oil may prevent Alzheimer’s, by dissolving amyloid plaques covering the brain. That’s actually a whole other reason: olive oil’s amazing health benefits as a food. Coconut oil is a great acne-friendly cooking oil, but a tiny bit overrated; olive oil is much more medicinally powerful.
Skin-wise, everything the topical articles claim is actually true for oral olive oil.
Nine – it’s high in linoleic acid
The number one indicator of whether to apply an oil or drink it.
Linoleic acid is the light side to oleic acid’s dark, but sometimes, it’s the exact opposite. It’s also called omega 6, and it makes up 13% of olive oil’s fatty acids.
On the skin, linoleic acid is fantastic. It suppresses p.acnes bacteria and lowers your oil production by stimulating PPAR-y receptors in the sebaceous glands. Ceramides need it to function, the pillars of your skin barrier. But inside the body, it stokes the fires of inflammation.
A big acne quest is to rebalance your omega 3s (from fish) with omega 6s; this balance holds the key to a controlled immune system and thus clear skin. It’s smart to have a guide in your head to which common oils are high linoleic and high oleic, and olive oil is the latter.
The low linoleic acid is the simplest, most instantaneous signpost towards eating olive oil as a food.
With grapeseed oil, it’s the opposite. There’s 70% linoleic acid, so its destiny is to sit on your skincare shelf (or God forbid, your $5000 skincare fridge), with not a drop touching your fried eggs. There’s no ifs and no buts: linoleic acid is a villain inside the body, whereas oleic acid is a villain outside it. Actually, you need some dietary linoleic acid, but the average American eats 5-10 times more than necessary.
Conclusion
Dietary olive oil beats topical for acne and there’s no debate about it.
I wouldn’t advise you to even experiment with topical olive oil. If it were just the random outbreaks, then you might risk it, in the hope that some people are randomly allergic. However, the oleic acid is a rock solid scientific danger.
There’s so many better topical treatments to experiment with, like rose water or shea butter. With a 4 week cycle for each mad experiment, you only have so much time.
Plus, you don’t want to get beautiful, glowing skin and be delighted, before suddenly being knocked off your feet by an acne outbreak. Olive oil as a food is where the party’s at.
Remember: the mouthwatering claims of topical articles might actually happen, if you drizzle it on your lettuce and tomatoes every lunchtime. Hope is not lost!
Thanks for reading!