There is no legal definition; specialist labs and curators commonly use around 500–600 mg/kg total polyphenols as an informal bar. Ordinary extra virgin olive oil typically measures 100–300 mg/kg; oils above 1,000 mg/kg are often called ultra-high phenolic. We rank every lab-verified oil we track by its raw value, so you can apply whatever bar you prefer.
Because values from different methods are not directly comparable. Folin-Ciocalteu typically reads higher than HPLC or qNMR for the same oil. We rank by the raw value the lab reported and display the method, rather than applying a hidden conversion factor you can't verify.
Under EU Regulation 432/2012, olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress. The claim applies only to oils providing at least 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives per 20 g of olive oil, consumed daily. It is not a claim about treating or preventing any disease.
No. Polyphenol content declines with time and poor storage, so harvest date and freshness chemistry (acidity, peroxide value) matter, and very high-phenolic oils taste intensely bitter and peppery, which not everyone wants. That's why our master ranking (raw mg/kg) and our editorial 'best overall' score are kept separate.
Ask for the lab report (certificate of analysis) and check four things: the testing laboratory's name, the method (qNMR, HPLC, or Folin-Ciocalteu), the harvest or batch the sample came from, and the date of analysis. A claim with no report, no method, and no harvest year is a marketing number, not a lab value.
We haven't found sufficient lab evidence for it yet, or it simply isn't in our database. You can suggest any oil with a lab report via our submission page — there is no fee, and brands cannot pay to be listed.
Yes, significantly. The same oil can vary by hundreds of mg/kg between harvest years depending on cultivar, harvest timing, weather, and processing. We re-verify ranked entries quarterly and tie every value to its harvest year.