Hailey Bieber’s morning routine sounds familiar enough—coffee, skin care, the basics. But there’s one addition that sets it apart: a shot of olive oil and lemon, taken before anything else hits her stomach.
In a recent interview with TIME, Bieber named it one of her three non-negotiable morning musts. “It helps coat the gut and it’s a good detox,” she explained, noting she’s kept up the habit every day for several months. “It’s newer [to me] but has you feeling really good,” she adds. As for the taste? She jokingly describes it as “a big gulp of salad dressing”—refreshingly candid for a wellness ritual that could easily be dressed up as something more elaborate.
Bieber isn’t alone in the habit. Kourtney Kardashian has shared that her own morning ritual includes a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil on an empty stomach every other day.
Turns out, there’s some research behind the trend. A Harvard study published in JAMA Network Open followed more than 92,000 adults over 28 years and found that people who consumed more than seven grams of olive oil per day—that’s just over half a tablespoon—had a 28 percent lower risk of dying from dementia-related causes, regardless of how healthy (or not) the rest of their diet was.
Although not every wellness trend that filters down from Hollywood deserves a second look, this one, backed by nearly three decades of data and more than 92,000 participants, might just be the exception.
