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Nutrition Simple #olive-oil#evoo#mediterranean

Olive Oil Grades

Extra-virgin: cold-pressed, high polyphenol. Refined: heat-treated, neutral. Pomace: solvent-extracted.

A free, animated olive oil grades you can read here or embed on any website, from Scrollchart.

Olive Oil Grades

Olive Oil GradesPolyphenol content, acidity, and smoke point from cold-press to solvent-extractedExtra-VirginVirginRefined (Pure)Extra-LightPomacePolyphenols (mg/kg)Free Fatty Acids (%)Smoke Point (C)35012010520.4%1.5%0.3%0.3%0.5%190C210C230C240C238C

A three-panel horizontal bar matrix comparing five olive oil grades (extra-virgin, virgin, refined, extra-light, pomace) across polyphenol content (mg/kg), free fatty acid percentage, and smoke point in Celsius. A right-side bubble overlay encodes approximate price per litre. The visual makes clear that refining strips polyphenols from 350 mg/kg down to single digits while raising smoke point from 190 to 240 C. A bottom summary strip states the practical rule: EVOO wins on bioactives, refined wins on heat tolerance.

Good for

  • Cooking-blog guides on choosing the right olive oil for each application
  • Mediterranean-diet educational content linking EVOO polyphenols to cardiovascular outcomes
  • Comparison articles explaining why price correlates with polyphenol density in olive oil

Source & accuracy

This olive oil grades is an editorial illustration built to represent the concept accurately. Where it shows figures, they are typical or representative values chosen to make the relationship clear, not a single underlying dataset. The diagram and its explainer are reviewed and maintained centrally, and updated over time as understanding improves.

What the grades on the bottle mean

Olive oil grades reflect how the oil was extracted and its resulting quality. Extra-virgin olive oil is produced by mechanical (cold) pressing without heat or solvents, must meet low free-acidity limits, and retains the most polyphenols and flavour. Plain virgin olive oil is also mechanically extracted but to a slightly lower quality standard.

Refined olive oil is virgin oil that failed quality criteria and was treated with heat and processing to remove defects, leaving a neutral oil with fewer polyphenols. Pomace oil is extracted from the leftover pulp and pits using solvents, then refined, and sits at the bottom of the quality ladder.

Why polyphenols and processing matter

The polyphenols concentrated in extra-virgin oil contribute its peppery taste and antioxidant content, which is part of why it is the grade most studied in Mediterranean-diet research. Refining strips much of this away in exchange for a higher smoke point and milder flavour, making refined grades more suited to high-heat cooking and extra-virgin to finishing or moderate heat.

This is general educational information about food grading, not dietary or medical advice. Consult a qualified professional for personal nutrition guidance.

Embed this diagram

Add this animated olive oil grades to your own site. Copy one line of HTML, or use the embed builder for theme and sizing options.

Reference

What this is
A free, embeddable, animated olive oil grades for any website.
Who uses it
Cooking blogs, Nutrition blogs, Diet blogs.
How to embed
Copy one line of HTML. No signup. No watermark. Works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, plain HTML.
File size
iframe embed, ~80 KB gzipped (loads on demand, does not block your page paint).
License
Free forever. Editorial explainer text included; updated centrally over time.

Embed format options

Copy the universal HTML snippet, the WordPress shortcode, or an iframe fallback - see the WordPress plugin page for details. Any format keeps the same Core Web Vitals profile and the same explainer text.

Embed snippet
<div data-scrollchart="olive-oil-grades" data-scrollchart-v="1"></div>
<script src="https://scrollchart.com/embed.js" async></script>

Frequently asked questions

Where can I get a free animated "Olive Oil Grades" for my website?
Scrollchart provides "Olive Oil Grades" as a free, embeddable animated diagram you can add to any website with one line of HTML. No signup is required and there is no watermark. The diagram and its explainer text are served from scrollchart.com, so the embed stays current without any maintenance on your end.
How do I embed a olive oil grades diagram in a health or wellness blog?
Copy the HTML snippet from the Scrollchart diagram page and paste it into any post or page in your CMS. It works in WordPress, Webflow, Ghost, Substack, and plain HTML without any plugin or account. The diagram renders as animated SVG directly in your page, so search engines can index the accompanying explainer text.