Can a moment on the lips actually take it off the hips?

New study points to a trimmer waistline through a dietary focus on quality extra virgin olive oil.

When Kate Moss declared of indulgent foods, "A moment on the lips, forever on the hips" she made a meme that travelled like wildfire (even if she did borrow the line from somewhere else).

Now for years extra virgin olive oil has been praised as a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet. And new research suggests yet another specific benefits. A large Italian study has found that people who regularly consume extra-virgin olive oil tend to carry less abdominal fat, even when the rest of their diet is taken into account.

This is a big deal because belly fat isn’t just a cosmetic issue. Fat stored around the waist is metabolically active and strongly linked to higher risks of heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and inflammation. Reducing it is one of the most meaningful steps people can take toward better long-term health.

The study analysed dietary and health data from more than 16,000 adults. Researchers paid particular attention to waist circumference, a reliable marker of abdominal obesity, and compared it with how often participants consumed extra virgin olive oil. Importantly, they didn’t just look at olive oil in isolation; they also measured overall diet quality to see whether olive oil was simply a marker of “healthy eaters” or whether it played a role of its own.

What they found was striking. People who used extra-virgin olive oil regularly - roughly the equivalent of a couple of tablespoons a day - had smaller waists and lower body mass indexes than those who used it only occasionally or not at all. Even after accounting for age, sex, calorie intake, and adherence to a Mediterranean-style diet, the link remained. In simple terms, olive oil itself appeared to matter.

This helps explain why extra virgin olive oil stands apart from other fats. Unlike refined seed oils or animal fats, it is rich in monounsaturated fats and naturally occurring polyphenols. These compounds have been shown in other research to help regulate blood sugar, reduce low-grade inflammation, and influence how and where the body stores fat. Rather than promoting fat accumulation, premium extra virgin olive oil may help the body manage energy more efficiently.

The researchers are careful to point out that olive oil is not a weight-loss shortcut. This was an observational study, not a diet intervention. But the findings do reinforce something nutrition science has been circling for years: choosing the right fats matters just as much as cutting the wrong ones.

So the take out is simple: using high-quality extra virgin olive oil regularly - on vegetables, salads, legumes, fish, or even as a finishing oil - is more than just about flavour or tradition. There are myriad health benefits, and a shrinking wasitline appears to be one of them.

Read the full case study here:
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2025.1645230/full