Olive Oil Omega 3, 6 and 9: The Full Fat Profile of a Tablespoon
Does olive oil contain omega-3? Yes, but only a little: on USDA FoodData Central's analysis of 36 extra virgin olive oil samples, one 13.5 g tablespoon carries about 88 mg of omega-3, all of it as alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), alongside roughly 1.1 g of omega-6 and 9.3 g of monounsaturated fat, almost all of it omega-9 oleic acid. That is the honest headline, and most pages stop there. This one shows the working. It takes the per-100 g figures straight from the database, multiplies them out to a tablespoon, gives the range across samples, sets the result against official intake references and the EU's labelling thresholds, and explains why olive oil's real nutritional case rests on its omega-9 and its polyphenols, not its omega-3.
For our own oil, see our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml).
The Short Answer
- Olive oil contains omega-3, but not much. USDA FoodData Central's extra virgin olive oil entry (FDC 748608, 36 samples) lists 0.651 g of ALA per 100 g, which is about 88 mg in a 13.5 g tablespoon.
- It contains no EPA or DHA. USDA's analysed olive oil entry (FDC 171413) records zero EPA, DPA and DHA, the long-chain omega-3s found in oily fish and algae.
- Omega-9 dominates. Oleic acid, the main omega-9, supplies about 9.2 g of a tablespoon's fat — roughly 72% of its fatty acids. Monounsaturated fat as a whole is about 74%.
- Omega-6 sits in between. A tablespoon carries about 1.1 g of linoleic acid, giving an omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of roughly 13:1.
- A tablespoon covers 5–8% of the US adequate intake for ALA (1.6 g a day for men, 1.1 g for women). Flaxseed oil carries about 80 times more ALA per tablespoon.
- Olive oil is mostly unsaturated. About 84% of its fatty acids are unsaturated and about 16% saturated, mainly palmitic acid.
- Choose olive oil for what it is good at. Its case rests on oleic acid and, in extra virgin oil, polyphenols — not on omega-3, which is better obtained from oily fish, flaxseed, walnuts or rapeseed oil.
The Full Fat Profile of One Tablespoon, From USDA Data
USDA FoodData Central's Foundation Foods entry for extra virgin olive oil (FDC 748608) is the most useful single source for this question: it reports the fatty acids of 36 analysed samples, and it separates omega-6 linoleic acid from omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid explicitly. We read the entry directly for this article. It gives values per 100 g; USDA's standard tablespoon of olive oil weighs 13.5 g (from its olive oil entry FDC 171413), so each figure is multiplied by 0.135.
| Fatty acid (family) | Per 100 g (USDA) | Arithmetic | Per tablespoon (13.5 g) | Share of fatty acids |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monounsaturated, total | 69.2 g | 69.2 × 0.135 | 9.34 g | 73.9% |
| — Oleic acid, 18:1 (omega-9) | 67.8 g | 67.8 × 0.135 | 9.15 g | 72.4% |
| Saturated, total | 15.4 g | 15.4 × 0.135 | 2.08 g | 16.4% |
| — Palmitic acid, 16:0 | 12.1 g | 12.1 × 0.135 | 1.63 g | 12.9% |
| Polyunsaturated, total | 9.07 g | 9.07 × 0.135 | 1.22 g | 9.7% |
| — Linoleic acid, 18:2 (omega-6) | 8.4 g | 8.4 × 0.135 | 1.13 g | 9.0% |
| — Alpha-linolenic acid, 18:3 (omega-3) | 0.651 g | 0.651 × 0.135 | 0.088 g (88 mg) | 0.7% |
| All fatty acids | 93.7 g | 93.7 × 0.135 | 12.65 g | 100% |
Two notes on reading the table. The "share of fatty acids" column divides each figure by the 93.7 g total, so oleic acid is 67.8 ÷ 93.7 = 72.4%. And the fatty acids add up to 93.7 g rather than 100 g because oil is made of triglycerides: fatty acids attached to a glycerol backbone, with small amounts of sterols, tocopherols and other minor compounds. The oil is still essentially pure fat, which is why a tablespoon carries about 120 kcal — our olive oil calories guide does that arithmetic in full.
How Much Omega-3 Is in Olive Oil? About 88 mg a Tablespoon
A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil contains about 88 mg of omega-3, all as alpha-linolenic acid, on USDA's 36-sample average. Across those samples ALA ranged from 0.506 to 0.72 g per 100 g, or roughly 68–97 mg per tablespoon. That is under 1% of the oil's fatty acids — real, measurable, and nutritionally small.
USDA's older SR Legacy entry for olive oil (FDC 171413, "salad or cooking" grade) tells the same story: 0.761 g of 18:3 per 100 g, about 103 mg a tablespoon, and analysed values of zero for the long-chain omega-3s EPA, DPA and DHA. The international trade standard agrees from the other direction. The International Olive Council's trade standard (COI/T.15/NC No 3/Rev. 22, June 2026) caps linolenic acid at 1.00% of fatty acids for olive oils, with a narrow exception up to 1.40% for virgin oils that pass extra authenticity checks. An olive oil cannot be high in omega-3 and still meet its own grade definition.
The US National Institutes of Health's Office of Dietary Supplements notes that the body converts ALA to EPA and then DHA only to a very limited degree, with reported rates below 15%. So the omega-3 in olive oil is not a meaningful route to the long-chain fats most omega-3 research is about.
Olive Oil vs Other Omega-3 Sources
Per tablespoon, olive oil sits near the bottom of the plant-oil omega-3 table. The ALA figures for the other oils below are from the Office of Dietary Supplements' omega-3 fact sheet; the olive oil figure is our calculation from USDA FDC 748608.
| Food (1 tablespoon unless stated) | ALA (omega-3) | Compared with olive oil |
|---|---|---|
| Flaxseed (linseed) oil | 7.26 g | about 82× |
| Canola (rapeseed) oil | 1.28 g | about 15× |
| Soybean oil | 0.92 g | about 10× |
| English walnuts, 1 ounce (28 g) | 2.57 g | about 29× |
| Extra virgin olive oil | 0.088 g | — |
Set against intake references, the gap is plain. The US adequate intake for ALA is 1.6 g a day for adult men and 1.1 g for adult women, so a tablespoon of olive oil provides about 5.5% and 8% respectively. To reach 1.6 g from olive oil alone you would need about 18 tablespoons (1,600 ÷ 88) — more than 2,000 kcal of oil. That is why no serious nutrition source treats olive oil as an omega-3 food.
Black seed oil is often asked the same question, and its answer is even more lopsided — a trace of ALA in a linoleic-acid oil. Our sister article on whether black seed oil has omega-3 sets out its profile in the same way.
Omega-9: The Fat Olive Oil Is Actually Known For
Omega-9 fatty acids have their first double bond nine carbons from the methyl end of the chain. In olive oil, the omega-9 that matters is oleic acid (18:1), which makes up 67.8 g of every 100 g on USDA's extra virgin average, with tiny amounts of the related gondoic acid. The IOC trade standard allows oleic acid anywhere from 55.00% to 85.00% of fatty acids, and USDA's 36 samples ran from 56.9 to 73.2 g per 100 g — about 7.7 to 9.9 g per tablespoon. Cultivar, climate and ripeness all move the figure.
Unlike omega-3 and omega-6, omega-9 is not essential: the Office of Dietary Supplements identifies ALA and linoleic acid as the essential fatty acids, and the body can make oleic acid itself. So the reason to value olive oil's omega-9 is not a deficiency it prevents, but what it replaces. The EU's register of permitted health claims (Regulation (EU) No 432/2012) allows foods high in unsaturated fat to state: "Replacing saturated fats in the diet with unsaturated fats contributes to the maintenance of normal blood cholesterol levels. Oleic acid is an unsaturated fat."
That framing is the honest one. Large cohort studies support it with an important qualifier: a 2014 meta-analysis of 32 cohort studies by Schwingshackl and Hoffmann in Lipids in Health and Disease found that monounsaturated fat from mixed animal and vegetable sources was not, by itself, associated with lower risk, whereas olive oil was. Oleic acid is part of olive oil's story, not the whole of it.
Omega-6 and the 13:1 Ratio: Does It Matter?
Olive oil's omega-6 to omega-3 ratio is about 13:1 on USDA's extra virgin data (8.4 ÷ 0.651 = 12.9) and about the same on the older SR Legacy entry (9.76 ÷ 0.761 = 12.8). Some pages present that ratio as a mark against olive oil. In practice it matters far less than it sounds, for two reasons.
- The absolute amounts are small. A tablespoon adds about 1.1 g of omega-6. USDA's samples ranged from 5.14 to 14.8 g of linoleic acid per 100 g, or about 0.7–2.0 g per tablespoon — far less than a tablespoon of a linoleic-rich seed oil.
- Ratios apply to whole diets, not single foods. Olive oil is roughly three-quarters monounsaturated fat, so its omega-6 and omega-3 together are under a tenth of its fatty acids. Your overall balance is set by the rest of what you eat — oily fish, nuts, seeds and other oils.
The low polyunsaturated content also has a practical upside. Monounsaturated fats are less prone to oxidation than polyunsaturated ones, which is part of why olive oil copes with everyday cooking better than its reputation suggests. Our guide to olive oil at high heat covers what actually happens in the pan.
Is Olive Oil Saturated or Unsaturated? What the EU Labelling Rules Say
Olive oil is an unsaturated fat. On USDA's extra virgin data, about 84% of its fatty acids are unsaturated (69.2 g monounsaturated plus 9.07 g polyunsaturated, out of 93.7 g) and about 16% saturated, mostly palmitic acid. That profile is easy to check against the EU's nutrition-claim rules in the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006, which we read for this article:
- "High monounsaturated fat" requires at least 45% of fatty acids to come from monounsaturated fat, providing more than 20% of the product's energy. Olive oil's 74% of fatty acids, supplying about 70% of its energy, clears both conditions.
- "High unsaturated fat" requires at least 70% of fatty acids to be unsaturated, providing more than 20% of energy. Olive oil's 84% clears it.
- "Source of omega-3 fatty acids" requires at least 0.3 g of ALA per 100 g and per 100 kcal. Olive oil has 0.651 g per 100 g but, at roughly 880–900 kcal per 100 g, only about 0.07 g per 100 kcal. It does not qualify.
That last line is a useful test when shopping. An olive oil marketed on its omega-3 content is leaning on a nutrient the EU's own thresholds say it does not supply in meaningful quantity. Our guide to choosing a quality olive oil covers the checks that do matter, including grade and harvest date.
The Objections Worth Answering
"I've read that olive oil is rich in omega-3." Some pages blur "contains" into "rich in". Analytical chemistry detects ALA in olive oil, so the first word is true; the second is not. Both USDA entries and the IOC's 1.00% linolenic limit put it below 1% of fatty acids.
"If the omega-3 is so low, why is olive oil linked to better health?" Because the evidence was never about omega-3. In the PREDIMED trial, as republished by Estruch and colleagues in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2018, 7,447 Spanish adults at high cardiovascular risk were assigned to a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil, the same diet with nuts, or advice to reduce dietary fat; after a median 4.8 years, major cardiovascular events were lower in the olive oil group (hazard ratio 0.69, 95% CI 0.53–0.91). That tested a whole dietary pattern in older, high-risk adults, so it cannot isolate the oil's fats. Our article on olive oil and heart health goes through the wider evidence.
"Should I take olive oil instead of an omega-3 supplement?" No — they do different jobs. Olive oil supplies monounsaturated fat; it does not supply EPA or DHA. Using olive oil as your main kitchen fat and getting omega-3 from oily fish, walnuts, flaxseed or rapeseed oil are complementary choices. If you have been advised to take omega-3 for a medical reason, follow that advice and ask your doctor or pharmacist before changing it.
Why Sidr & Stone
We will not sell our olive oil on omega-3, because no honest olive oil can. The fatty acid figures in this article come from USDA's database, not from our own bottles; we have not yet published a lab certificate for our oil and will not quote figures until we do. What we can tell you is how the oil is grown and made. Sidr & Stone's extra virgin olive oil comes from our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech, where we control every step from tree to bottle.
- Single-estate — Sidr & Stone's olive oil comes from our own family-owned farm near Marrakech, Morocco, with no blending across origins.
- Rain-fed — no irrigation; the trees take what the season gives.
- Organically grown — no synthetic fertilisers, pesticides or herbicides (not yet certified; certification is in progress).
- Single harvest — a small, limited batch; once it is gone, it is gone until the next harvest.
- Cold-pressed within hours of harvest — to protect flavour, aroma and polyphenols.
- Unfiltered extra virgin — minimally processed; natural sediment is normal.
- 100% natural — a single ingredient, olive oil, nothing added.
- Dark glass with a gold label — a 500 ml bottle that protects the oil from light.
- 10% of profits to charity — a brand-wide commitment.
- Fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
We will not tell you Sidr & Stone is the best olive oil — that would be the very kind of claim this article warns against. What we will say is that our oil is single-estate Moroccan, rain-fed, organically grown and cold-pressed within hours of harvest, which is how extra virgin olive oil keeps the flavour and polyphenols that make its tablespoon of fat worth choosing. For more on those compounds, see our guide to olive oil polyphenols.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does olive oil contain omega-3?
Yes, but only a little. USDA FoodData Central lists 0.651 g of omega-3 (alpha-linolenic acid) per 100 g of extra virgin olive oil, about 88 mg in a 13.5 g tablespoon. It contains no EPA or DHA.
Does olive oil have omega-3, 6 and 9?
Yes, in very different amounts. A tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil carries about 9.2 g of omega-9 oleic acid, 1.1 g of omega-6 linoleic acid and 0.09 g of omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, on USDA's 36-sample average.
What is the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio of olive oil?
About 13:1 on USDA data (8.4 g linoleic acid to 0.651 g alpha-linolenic acid per 100 g). Because olive oil's polyunsaturated fats are under a tenth of its fatty acids, the ratio matters far less than the overall balance of your diet.
Is olive oil saturated or unsaturated?
Unsaturated. About 84% of extra virgin olive oil's fatty acids are unsaturated — mostly monounsaturated oleic acid — and about 16% are saturated, mainly palmitic acid.
Is Sidr & Stone olive oil a source of omega-3?
No, and we would not describe it as one. Like any genuine extra virgin olive oil, ours is dominated by oleic acid with only a trace of omega-3; the figures in this article are USDA averages, not measurements of our batches.
Which oil has the highest omega-3?
Among common kitchen oils, flaxseed (linseed) oil, with about 7.26 g of ALA per tablespoon according to the US Office of Dietary Supplements. Rapeseed (canola) oil provides about 1.28 g. For EPA and DHA, the sources are oily fish, seafood and algae.
Where can I buy Sidr & Stone olive oil?
Our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml) is available to pre-order as a limited single-harvest batch, with estimated shipping from November 2026 and fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
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 arithmetic is simple once it is shown. Take USDA's per-100 g figures for extra virgin olive oil, multiply by the 13.5 g in a tablespoon, and you get about 9.3 g of monounsaturated fat, 2.1 g of saturated fat, 1.1 g of omega-6 and 88 mg of omega-3. Olive oil is an omega-9 oil with a little omega-6 and a trace of omega-3 — and both the IOC's grade limits and the EU's labelling thresholds say the same.
That is not a mark against it. Olive oil's value comes from replacing saturated fats with oleic acid and, in a good extra virgin oil, from the polyphenols that cold-pressing protects. Use it as your everyday fat, and get your omega-3 from foods that genuinely supply it. If you are managing a medical condition or following a prescribed diet, a dietitian or your GP can tailor the balance to you.
Our Cold-Pressed Single-Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil - Marrakech (500ml) — single-estate, rain-fed and cold-pressed within hours of harvest — is available to pre-order now, with fulfilment in the UK, EU, and US.
Our extra virgin olive oil is grown organically on our own single-estate farm on the plains outside Marrakech: we control every step from tree to bottle, and no synthetic pesticides, herbicides or fertilisers are used. It is not yet certified organic — certification is in progress, and we will publish it as soon as it comes through.
References
1. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central: Oil, olive, extra virgin (Foundation, FDC ID 748608), and Oil, olive, salad or cooking (SR Legacy, FDC ID 171413). Accessed 1 October 2026.
2. National Institutes of Health, Office of Dietary Supplements. Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Fact Sheet for Health Professionals (updated 22 August 2025).
3. International Olive Council. Trade Standard Applying to Olive Oils and Olive Pomace Oils, COI/T.15/NC No 3/Rev. 22 (June 2026).
4. Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on nutrition and health claims made on foods, Annex; Commission Regulation (EU) No 432/2012, Annex (oleic acid entry).
5. Schwingshackl L, Hoffmann G. (2014). Monounsaturated fatty acids, olive oil and health status: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies. Lipids in Health and Disease, 13, 154. doi:10.1186/1476-511X-13-154. PMID 25274026.
6. Estruch R, Ros E, Salas-Salvadó J, Covas MI, Corella D, Arós F, et al.; PREDIMED Study Investigators. (2018). Primary prevention of cardiovascular disease with a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(25), e34. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa1800389. PMID 29897866.
Disclaimer: This article describes olive oil's fatty acid composition using USDA FoodData Central, the International Olive Council trade standard, EU labelling rules and published research at the time of writing; database values, standards and research findings may change, and composition varies between oils and harvests, so readers should check current sources. It is general nutritional information, not personalised dietary advice. Olive oil is a food, not a medicine, and is not a substitute for medical treatment of any condition. For any health concern, consult a qualified medical professional.