The operative conditions of malaxation such as temperature and time of exposure of olive pastes to air contact (TEOPAC) affect volatile and phenolic composition of virgin olive oil (VOO) and, as a consequence, its sensory and healthy qualities. In this paper, optimal temperature and TEOPAC during malaxation were studied, in lab scale, in two Italian cultivars using phenolic compounds, volatile ...

BACKGROUND The incidence of ischemic heart disease (IHD) in Crete was lower than expected on the basis of blood lipid concentrations of participants in the Seven Countries Study. A favorable effect of a high intake of olive oil on thrombogenesis may have contributed to this finding. OBJECTIVE We compared the effects of virgin olive oil with those of rapeseed and sunflower oils on blood coagul...

Phenolic composition of virgin olive oil is determined by the enzymatic and/or chemical reactions that take place during olive fruit processing. Of these enzymes, β-glucosidase activity plays a relevant role in the transformation of the phenolic glycosides present in the olive fruit, generating different secoiridoid derivatives. The main goal of the present study was to characterize olive fruit...

BACKGROUND Diet has been reported to influence arterial blood pressure, and evidence indicates that the Mediterranean diet reduces cardiovascular mortality. OBJECTIVE The objective was to examine whether the Mediterranean diet, as an entity, and olive oil, in particular, reduce arterial blood pressure. DESIGN Arterial blood pressure and several sociodemographic, anthropometric, dietary, phy...

Olive oil is considered to be one of the most healthy dietary fats. However, several types of olive oils are present in the market. A key question for the consumer is: What of the olive oils is the best when concerning nutritional purposes? With the data available at present, the answer is: the Virgin Olive Oil (VOO), rich in phenolic compounds. On November 2011, the European Food Safety Author...

In this study the energy and economic flows and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions of olive oil production in Iran were investigated in terms of a life cycle assessment with considering four main stages of agricultural olive production, olive transportation, olive oil extraction and its oil transportation to the customer centers. Data was collected from 150 olive growers in Guilan province of Iran....

Oils enriched in monounsaturated fatty acids do not seem to behave similarly in protecting against the development of atherosclerosis in animal models, which has been attributed to the presence of soluble phenolic compounds. To test the relevance of other components of oils in the prevention of atherosclerosis, two olive oils from the same cultivar devoid of soluble phenolic compounds were prep...

The evolution of the main phenolic secoiridoid compounds throughout the different stages of the virgin olive oil making process-crushing, malaxation and liquid-solid separation-is studied here, with the goal of making possible the prediction of the partition and transformation that take place in the different steps of the process. The concentration of hydroxytyrosol secoiridoids produced under ...

The low incidence of cardiovascular disease in countries bordering the Mediterranean basin, where olive oil is the main source of dietary fat, has stimulated interest in the chemical composition of olive oil and in the production of other oils enriched with its minor components. This review summarizes what has been learned about the effects of different olive oil preparations on the development...