What are the benefits of cooking with olive oil?

Several studies have shown the health and gastronomic benefits of cooking with olive oil:

• EVOO reacts with cooked food to produce new compounds and enriches it with different constituents.
• A chemical exchange occurs between food and oil during cooking. Food is enriched by absorption of EVOO’s unique phenols, squalene, sterols, and vitamins from the oil.
• EVOO phenolic compounds can form complexes with food macromolecules, such as carbohydrates and fats, affecting their absorption in the human body.
• EVOO protects the sensory/ aroma profiles of foods.
• EVOO antioxidants that protect the oil from thermal degradation can show the same effect on the cooked food. The shelf life of the food can increase.
• Phenolic compounds found in EVOO, such as hydroxytyrosol (alpha-diphenol), inhibit the formation of harmful chemicals like acrylamide from the food.