Olive Oil for Stretch Marks: What the Research Actually Found
If you are searching for olive oil for stretch marks, you are most likely looking at marks that have already begun to appear, or hoping to get ahead of them. It is worth saying at the outset that stretch marks are ordinary. The Cochrane review on this subject opens by noting that striae gravidarum — the marks that develop during pregnancy — occur in 50% to 90% of women. Nothing about them means you have done anything wrong, or missed a step someone else got right. If they are troubling you, a midwife, GP, pharmacist or dermatologist is the right person to speak to, and this article is not a substitute for that conversation. What it can do is set out plainly what the published trials of topical olive oil actually measured.
We sell olive oil, and we should be plain about what ours is for: our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil is a food, made for the table. It is not a skincare product, and nothing in this article is a reason to buy it.
The Short Answer
- Stretch marks in pregnancy are extremely common — the Cochrane review puts the figure at 50% to 90% of women. They are a normal change, not a failure of care.
- This question has been formally reviewed. Brennan, Young and Devane's Cochrane review (Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2012, CD000066.pub2, PMID 23152199) pooled six randomised trials involving 800 women.
- Olive oil was one of the preparations trialled. It was not a fringe inclusion — one of the six included studies compared topical olive oil against no treatment.
- The pooled comparison of active topical preparations against placebo or no treatment gave an average risk ratio of 0.74, with a 95% confidence interval of 0.53 to 1.03 across five trials and 474 women. That interval crosses 1.00, so the result was not statistically significant. Heterogeneity was substantial at I² = 65%.
- The review's own conclusion is unambiguous: "We found no high-quality evidence to support the use of any of the topical preparations in the prevention of stretch marks during pregnancy."
- Three separate randomised trials tested olive oil specifically, in 2011, 2012 and 2014. None found a statistically significant difference against control.
- Separately, controlled studies of olive oil on skin have measured reductions in the integrity of the skin's outer barrier. That is a different question from stretch marks, but it is worth knowing about.
- We do not publish a laboratory figure for our own oil, and we make no claim about it and skin of any kind.
First, What Stretch Marks Are
Stretch marks appear when skin is stretched relatively quickly and the dermis — the layer beneath the surface — reorganises in response. In pregnancy they most often appear on the abdomen, and also on the breasts and thighs. They begin as red or purple lines or streaks and fade slowly over time to paler marks.
The Cochrane review is direct about the limits of understanding here: it states that the exact cause of stretch marks is unclear. It also records, plainly, that they are a source of significant anxiety for many women and can affect quality of life. Both of those things are true at once, and neither is a reason for anyone to feel they should have prevented them.
The Cochrane Review That Asked This Exact Question
Miriam Brennan, Gavin Young and Declan Devane, writing for the Cochrane Pregnancy and Childbirth Group, published Topical preparations for preventing stretch marks in pregnancy in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews in November 2012 (2012;11(11):CD000066, doi 10.1002/14651858.CD000066.pub2, PMID 23152199). It updated an earlier review and remains the current version.
The review included six randomised or quasi-randomised trials involving 800 women in total, conducted in Germany, Spain, Austria, the West Indies, Lebanon and Iran. The preparations tested were Alphastria, Trofolastin, Verum, cocoa butter and olive oil. Here is what the pooled analysis reported.
| Comparison | Trials and participants | Pooled result (95% CI) | Heterogeneity |
|---|---|---|---|
| Active preparation vs placebo or no treatment — development of stretch marks | 5 trials, 474 women | Average risk ratio 0.74 (0.53 to 1.03) — not statistically significant | Tau² = 0.09; I² = 65% |
| Same comparison, excluding trials at high risk of bias | 4 trials, 424 women | Average risk ratio 0.81 (0.60 to 1.10) — not statistically significant | Tau² = 0.05; I² = 57% |
| Active preparation vs placebo or no treatment — severity of stretch marks | 2 trials, 255 women | Standardised mean difference −0.31 (−1.06 to 0.44) | Tau² = 0.26; I² = 87% |
| Active preparation vs a different active preparation — development | 2 trials, 305 women | Average risk ratio 0.51 (0.16 to 1.60) | Tau² = 0.53; I² = 74% |
| Active preparation vs a different active preparation — severity | 1 trial, 206 women | Mean difference −0.20 (−0.53 to 0.13) | Not applicable |
Every one of those confidence intervals crosses the line of no effect. The authors' conclusion reads: "We found no high-quality evidence to support the use of any of the topical preparations in the prevention of stretch marks during pregnancy."
One honest note about how to read this review. It does not report GRADE certainty ratings, and it contains no Summary of Findings table — it assesses the included trials using Cochrane's risk-of-bias domains instead. Three of the six trials were judged at low risk of bias across five of seven domains; one was at high risk for random sequence generation and allocation concealment. So "no high-quality evidence" is the authors' own characterisation of a small, heterogeneous evidence base, not a formal certainty grade.
Olive Oil Was Tested Specifically — Three Times
This is the part most articles on this keyword leave out. Olive oil is not merely a folk suggestion that nobody has bothered to examine. The same Iranian research group ran three randomised controlled trials on it, and one of them is the trial Cochrane included.
| Trial | Design and participants | What was applied | Reported result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Taavoni S, Soltanipour F, Haghani H, Ansarian H, Kheirkhah M. Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice, 2011;17(3):167–169 (PMID 21742284) — the trial included in Cochrane | Randomised controlled trial in Iran; olive oil group versus no treatment | Olive oil applied to the abdominal skin twice a day, without massaging, through the second trimester | Stretch marks occurred in 40% of the olive oil group and 50% of the control group. The authors report no significant difference between groups, and conclude that use of olive oil to the end of the second trimester "was not effective in reducing the occurrence of striae gravidarum" |
| Soltanipoor F, Delaram M, Taavoni S, Haghani H. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2012;20(5):263–266 (PMID 22863639) | Randomised controlled trial; 100 nulliparous pregnant women, 50 per group | 1 cc of topical olive oil twice a day to the abdominal skin, applied gently without massaging, continued until delivery | Although severe marks were less frequent among olive oil users, the authors report no statistically significant difference between the two groups |
| Soltanipour F, Delaram M, Taavoni S, Haghani H. Complementary Therapies in Medicine, 2014;22(2):220–225 (PMID 24731892) | Three-arm randomised controlled trial; 360 nulliparous women randomised, 150 completed (50 per group) — olive oil, the trial's own comparator cream, and no intervention | Applied through pregnancy; participants assessed at 38–40 weeks for occurrence and severity of abdominal striae | Stretch marks occurred in 72% of the olive oil group, 64% of the comparator cream group and 60% of the control group. The authors report no statistically significant differences among the three groups in either incidence or severity |
Read the third row again, because it is the one that matters most. In the largest of the three trials, the olive oil group had marks slightly more often than the untreated control group — 72% against 60% — though the difference was not statistically significant. That is not evidence that olive oil causes stretch marks. It is evidence that, in this trial, olive oil did not separate from doing nothing at all.
A more recent systematic review reached a mixed conclusion about oils generally. Güner Emül T and Kaplan Serin E, writing in Skin Research and Technology in 2026 (32(4):e70354, doi 10.1111/srt.70354, PMID 41988841), reviewed four randomised controlled trials covering 671 pregnant participants. The oils used across those studies included coconut, rose, sesame, sweet almond and olive oil. The reviewers report that coconut oil was effective in preventing striae gravidarum while rose, sesame and sweet almond oils were not. Their abstract does not state a separate verdict for olive oil, and we are not going to invent one; their overall conclusion calls for larger, higher-quality, blinded trials.
What These Trials Did Not Establish
Being fair to the evidence cuts both ways, so here is what the studies above genuinely do not show.
They do not show that olive oil is harmful to apply. "No significant difference" is not the same as "worse". They also do not show that olive oil makes no difference to how skin feels — none of these trials measured comfort, itch or dryness as a primary outcome, and a growing bump that itches is a real and common complaint that an emollient may genuinely ease.
They do not settle the question of existing marks either. All three trials, and the Cochrane review itself, were about preventing marks from forming. Whether a topical oil changes marks that have already appeared is a separate question these studies were not designed to answer.
And the trials are small. Even the largest analysed only 150 completed participants. The Cochrane authors say directly that there is "a clear need for robust, methodologically rigorous randomised trials involving larger sample sizes". A finding of no significant difference in a small trial is weaker evidence than the same finding in a large one.
The Separate Question of the Skin Barrier
There is a second body of research worth knowing about, though it addresses skin barrier function rather than stretch marks. In a forearm-controlled study, Danby SG, AlEnezi T, Sultan A, Lavender T, Chittock J, Brown K and Cork MJ (Pediatric Dermatology, 2013;30(1):42–50, PMID 22995032) had nineteen adult volunteers apply olive oil to one forearm twice daily. They recorded a significant reduction in the integrity of the stratum corneum — the outer barrier — and mild redness, in volunteers both with and without a history of atopic dermatitis. Sunflower seed oil, applied the same way, preserved barrier integrity.
The evidence there is not unanimous, and we say so. Rubio-Santoyo A, Sanabria-de la Torre R, Montero-Vílchez T, Girón-Prieto MS, Gómez-Farto A and Arias-Santiago S (Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2025;14(13):4675, PMID 40649050) ran a within-person randomised trial in 54 healthy adults and found that both extra virgin olive oil and petrolatum significantly improved barrier function by increasing stratum corneum hydration and reducing redness and skin temperature, with petrolatum additionally reducing water loss through the skin.
We have set that literature out at length elsewhere, so we will not repeat it here — see our article on olive oil and eczema for the full picture, and our broader guide to olive oil for skin. The relevant point for this page is narrow: barrier studies are not stretch-mark studies, and neither set of findings should be borrowed to answer the other's question.
Where This Leaves You
Honestly? It leaves the decision with you and the people looking after you, which is where it belongs.
What the evidence does support is a change in expectation rather than a change in behaviour. If you have been applying an oil in the belief that the research backs it as a way of stopping marks forming, the research does not currently back that. If you find an emollient comfortable on stretching skin, none of these trials found a reason that would change.
What we would gently steer you away from is spending real money on the strength of a claim. Products marketed specifically at stretch marks sit in a category where the pooled evidence is, in Cochrane's own words, not high quality — and that applies to expensive preparations as much as to a cupboard staple.
The people worth asking are a midwife, a GP, a pharmacist or a dermatologist. A pharmacist is often the easiest to reach and can talk through what is in a product. If marks are changing quickly, appearing outside pregnancy, or causing you real distress, that is a conversation for a doctor rather than a website. Our general guidance on olive oil during pregnancy sits in our article on olive oil in pregnancy, and it says the same thing.
Where Olive Oil Genuinely Belongs
Olive oil has a serious evidence base, and it is a dietary one. It is the principal fat in the Mediterranean dietary pattern, which has the largest body of research behind it of any traditional way of eating. Its polyphenols — oleocanthal, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol among them — are among the most studied compounds in food chemistry, and we have written about them in our guide to olive oil polyphenols.
None of that is a claim about skin, and we are not going to bend it into one. It is simply where the strength of the evidence actually sits: on the plate, not on the bump. If you want to spend well on olive oil, spend it on an oil you will enjoy eating — our guide to choosing a quality olive oil covers harvest date, grade and packaging in order.
Why Sidr & Stone
We have written an article that argues against the reason most people arrived on this page, and we have not used it to sell you anything. That is the posture we would rather be known for. Here is what our oil is, stated as facts you can check.
- Single-estate — one family-owned grove on the plains outside Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take their water from the seasonal rains.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides. We do not hold formal organic certification and do not describe ourselves as certified organic.
- Single harvest — a small batch, once a season, picked when the fruit is ready rather than on a fixed date.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — minimising the gap between picking and pressing.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed, and it may show natural sediment.
- 100% natural — one ingredient, olive oil, with nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — packaging that protects the oil from light.
- Halal certified, and 10% of profits go to charity as a brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
And here is what we cannot tell you, set out the same way.
| What a buyer might want to see | Sidr & Stone | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Total polyphenols (mg/kg) | Not published | No independent laboratory panel has been run on the first harvest yet |
| Free acidity and peroxide value | Not published | Awaiting the same first-harvest panel |
| Sensory panel score | Not published | No official tasting panel result has been commissioned yet |
| Any claim about skin or stretch marks | None made | The evidence does not support one, and our oil is sold as a food |
| Origin and estate | Published | Single family-owned grove on the plains outside Marrakech |
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil — that would be exactly the sort of claim this article was written to test. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, and that where we have no figure to give you, we say so.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does olive oil prevent stretch marks?
The published trials do not show that it does. Three randomised controlled trials tested topical olive oil against control in pregnancy, in 2011, 2012 and 2014, and none reported a statistically significant difference. The 2012 Cochrane review that pooled this literature concluded there is no high-quality evidence supporting any topical preparation for preventing stretch marks in pregnancy.
Was olive oil actually included in the Cochrane review?
Yes. Of the six trials the review included, one — Taavoni and colleagues, 2011 — compared topical olive oil against no treatment. The other preparations covered were Alphastria, Trofolastin, Verum and cocoa butter.
How common are stretch marks in pregnancy?
Very. The Cochrane review states that striae gravidarum occur in 50% to 90% of women. They typically appear on the abdomen, breasts and thighs, start as red or purple streaks, and fade slowly to paler marks over time.
What causes stretch marks?
The honest answer is that it is not fully understood. The Cochrane review says plainly that the exact cause is unclear. Rapid stretching of the skin is involved, and factors such as genetics and skin type are widely discussed, but no single mechanism is settled.
What does the research say about putting olive oil on skin generally?
It is mixed. A 2013 forearm-controlled study by Danby and colleagues recorded a significant reduction in outer skin-barrier integrity and mild redness after four weeks of twice-daily olive oil. A 2025 within-person trial in 54 adults by Rubio-Santoyo and colleagues found extra virgin olive oil improved hydration and reduced redness. These studies looked at barrier function, not stretch marks. Anything specific to your skin is a question for a pharmacist, GP or dermatologist.
Does any oil prevent stretch marks?
No preparation has been shown to do so on high-quality evidence. A 2026 systematic review by Güner Emül and Kaplan Serin covering four trials and 671 participants reported coconut oil as effective and rose, sesame and sweet almond oils as not effective, while calling for larger and better-blinded trials. The overall picture remains unsettled.
Who should I speak to about stretch marks?
A midwife, GP, pharmacist or dermatologist. A pharmacist is usually the easiest to reach and can talk you through what a product contains. If marks are changing quickly, appearing outside pregnancy, or causing you real distress, speak to a doctor.
Is olive oil a medicine?
No. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine. It has a long traditional history — including being honoured in the Prophetic Sunnah — and a substantial body of modern research, particularly around polyphenols, cardiovascular health, and the Mediterranean diet pattern. It can be a worthwhile part of a healthy routine, but it does not cure diseases and is not a substitute for medical care. Be cautious of any olive oil marketed with specific disease-cure claims.
Final Thoughts
The uncomfortable thing about this topic is that the advice is everywhere and the evidence is thin. Olive oil for stretch marks is not a wild idea that nobody has examined — it has been examined three times in randomised trials, and pooled into a Cochrane review alongside five other preparations, and the answer that keeps coming back is that no significant difference was found.
That is a genuinely useful thing to know, because it takes a small weight off. Stretch marks are not something you failed to prevent with the right routine. Between half and nine in ten women in pregnancy get them. The research has looked hard for a topical preparation that reliably changes that, and has not found one yet.
If your skin is itchy or uncomfortable as it stretches, that is worth mentioning to your midwife or a pharmacist, who can talk about what might help with comfort. And if you want a good olive oil, buy it for the kitchen.
Our cold-pressed organic Marrakech olive oil is single-estate, rain-fed and unfiltered, pressed within hours of a single small harvest and made for the table — available to pre-order. First harvest, estimated shipping from November 2026. Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Pre-Order Sidr & Stone Organic Marrakech Olive Oil — Limited First Harvest →
Disclaimer: This article describes published research findings as they stood at the time of writing; research findings may change, and readers should check current sources. It is general information, not medical advice, and it is not a guide to treating or preventing any condition. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, including anything relating to pregnancy or your skin, consult a qualified medical professional such as your midwife, GP, pharmacist or a dermatologist.