My boyfriend has a sensitivity to olive oil.
With restaurants using olive oil in their recipes with increasing frequency, and with his travels to place like Greece and Spain, this sensitivity has become a real liability for him. Food prepared with it, prompts within a half hour, an explosive need for the restroom and pretty much ruins the remainder of the day.
Oddly enough, he seems to be able to eat olives packed in water
Sensitivity to olive oil is rare but certainly possible. If the oil cannot be absorbed for some reason, it will act as a cathartic. Extra virgin olive oil is not processed, the olives are simply ground up and the oil removed by pressing or spinning in a centrifuge.
The type of olives used for oil production may contain as much as 20% of their weight in oil. The larger varieties grown for pickling and brining often have as little as 5% oil, so it is not surprising that eating olives doesn't cause the same problem.
There is about 1 tablespoon of olive oil (and about 120 calories) in:
40 small ripe black olives
20 jumbo ripe black olives
7 super colossal ripe black olives
Submit a question to The Olive Oil Source!