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When a DRIA test shows intolerance to olive oil, the treatment procedure is slightly different from that which is usually applied.
Considering the many virtues for our health that olive oil possesses, we try not to eliminate it completely from the diet; in most cases, reactivity to this substance signals an overload rather than an actual intolerance (as often occurs with Salt and Yeast). This happens because persons who have already shown intolerance to vegetable fats on the DRIA test tend to show reactivity to olive oil as well.
However, the case is different if the hypersensitivity to olive oil is associated with a positive result on the Prick Test or on the RAST for the Olea oeuropaea (the olive plant) or if there is a history of allergic reactions to oil or to olive plant pollen.
In the first case (overload), the treatment usually consists in the rotation of the following foods and a restriction of Vegetable fats (see profile). In a later phase, if the follow-up test is positive again (also testing the oil that the patient uses regularly, a sample of which must be brought for the test), the doctor may decide whether or not to exclude olive oil from the patient’s diet. But this procedure usually results in the elimination of vegetable fats and not olive oil as such. In the second case (also pollen allergy) it may be necessary to restrict olive oil in the diet.
In case of a specific intolerance to olive oil, not only is it necessary to restrict the oil but you must also take into consideration industrial and/or homemade products that may contain it, such as:
— Olives, Olive paste
— Canned products: for example tuna, sardines, anchovies packed in oil...
— Foods preserved in oil: mushrooms, artichokes, peppers...
— Industrially prepared sauces: mayonnaise, cocktail sauce, tartar sauce...
In most cases the following phenomenon occurs: after 2-4 months of rotational diet, a patient regains tolerance to extra virgin olive oil, but continues the diet that restricts hydrogenated vegetable fats. However this may not happen when an individual is allergic to olive pollen and therefore has a specific reactivity to the olive plant itself.
Alternatives
It often happens that reactions towards various vegetable fats tend to cross in the same person. Therefore, even though a good alternative to olive oil is usually a single seed oil (peanut, corn, soy, sunflower, safflower, grape-seed), it’s important to make sure that new hypersensitivities don’t arise. So it’s best to vary the types of oil that you use and check your tolerance of the alternatives by way of a DRIA test on the individual substances.
You should keep in mind the fact that single seed oils, compared to mixed seed oils (without specifications), are usually more trustworthy, even though you can’t completely exclude the possibility of residues from a mix of other oils.
The description “cold-pressed” further guarantees the presence of one seed type and the product’s nutritional quality (cold-pressing preserves a large part of the seed’s vitamin content- most of all vitamin E- and particularly the polyunsaturated fatty oils, linolenic Omega -3 and linoleic Omega-6 in the proper ratio).
Additional suggestions are given on the food profile for Vegetable fats.
Many alternative recipes can be found, together with instructions for rotational diets, in the books by Dr Attilio Speciani “Le allergie: cause, diagnosi, terapie” [Allergies: Causes, diagnosis, therapies] (with Marina Speciani Necchi), “Resistere all’inquinamento” [Surviving pollution] and “Superare le intolleranze alimentari” [Overcoming food intolerances] (with Francesca Speciani), all published by Tecniche Nuove, Milan.
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© This food profile is copyright of SMA Srl Servizi Medici Associati, Via Ariosto 28, 20145 Milan,
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. Health director: Dr Attilio Speciani, M.D., Clinical allergist and immunologist. This material may not be used or reproduced without the publisher’s permission.
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Luigi Oreste Speciani 
