Bioactive Compounds and Quality of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 Foods 2020, 9(8), 1014

DOI:10.3390/foods9081014

Background: 

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is responsible for a large part of many health benefits associated to Mediterranean diet as it is a fundamental ingredient of this diet. The peculiarities of this golden, highly valued product are in part due to the requirements that must be met to achieve this title, namely, it has to be obtained using exclusively mechanical procedures, its free acidity cannot be greater than 0.8%, it must not show sensory defects, and it has to possess a fruity taste. 

Methods: 

All these characteristics are key factors to EVOO quality, thus the chemical composition of these many health-promoting compounds, such as unsaturated fatty acids (which are also the major compounds, especially oleic acid), as well as minor components such as tocopherols or phenolic compounds (which behave as natural antioxidants) must be preserved. 

Results: 

Due to the presence of all these compounds, the daily consumption of EVOO entails health benefits such as cardioprotective, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor properties or acting as regulator of the intestinal microbiota, among others. 

Conclusions: 

Taking all together, conserving EVOO chemical composition is essential to preserve its properties, so it is worth to control certain factors during storage like exposure to light, temperature, oxygen presence or the chosen packaging material, to maintain its quality and extend its shelf-life until its consumption.

Nutraceutical Potential of Phenolics from ′Brava′ and ′Mansa′ Extra-Virgin Olive Oils on the Inhibition of Enzymes Associated to Neurodegenerative Disorders in Comparison with Those of ′Picual′ and ′Cornicabra′

Molecules, 23, 722, 2018

DOI: 10.3390/molecules23040722

The increasing interest in the Mediterranean diet is based on the protective effects against several diseases, including neurodegenerative disorders. Polyphenol-rich functional foods have been proposed to be unique supplementary and nutraceutical treatments for these disorders. Extra-virgin olive oils (EVOOs) obtained from ′Brava′ and ′Mansa′, varieties recently identified from Galicia (northwestern Spain), were selected for in vitro screening to evaluate their capacity to inhibit key enzymes involved in Alzheimer′s disease (AD) (acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX)), major depressive disorder (MDD) and Parkinson′s disease (PD) (monoamine oxidases: hMAO-A and hMAO-B respectively). ′Brava′ oil exhibited the best inhibitory activity against all enzymes, when they are compared to ′Mansa′ oil: BuChE (IC50 = 245 ± 5 and 591 ± 23 mg·mL−1), 5-LOX (IC50 = 45 ± 7 and 106 ± 14 mg·mL−1), hMAO-A (IC50 = 30 ± 1 and 72 ± 10 mg·mL−1) and hMAO-B (IC50 = 191 ± 8 and 208 ± 14 mg·mL−1), respectively. The inhibitory capacity of the phenolic extracts could be associated with the content of secoiridoids, lignans and phenolic acids.

Evaluation of the neuroprotective and antidiabetic potential of phenol-rich extracts from virgin olive oils by in vitro assays

Food Research International, 106, 558-567, 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.foodres.2018.01.026

In this work, phenol-rich extracts from ‘Cornicabra’ and ‘Picual’ virgin-olive oils (EVOOs) were examined, for the first time, to establish their capacity to inhibit key enzymes involved in Alzheimer's disease (AD) (acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BuChE) and 5-lipoxygenase (LOX)), major depressive disorder (MDD) and Parkinson's disease (PD) (monoamine oxidases: hMAO-A and hMAO-B respectively), and diabetes mellitus (DM) (α-glucosidase and α-amylase). ‘Cornicabra’ displayed the best inhibitory activity against all enzymes, when compared to ‘Picual’: BuChE (IC50 = 156 ± 4 and 308 ± 33 mg mL−1), LOX (IC50 = 26 ± 0.5 and 37 ± 3 mg mL−1), hMAO-A (IC50 = 20 ± 2 and 37 ± 0.2 mg mL−1), hMAO-B (IC50 = 131 ± 7 and 215 ± 13 mg mL−1) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 154 ± 17 and 251 ± 31 mg mL−1), respectively. The behaviour observed can be associated with the higher content of secoiridoids, lignans and phenolic acids in ‘Cornicabra’ EVOO.

Genotypic and phenotypic identi cation of olive cultivars from north-western Spain and characterization of their extra virgin olive oils in terms of fatty acid composition and minor compounds

Scientia Horticulturae, 2018

Galicia (NW Spain) is emerging as a new olive-growing region. Galician oil producers are currently striving to recover old autochthonous cultivars with a view to obtaining high quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO). In this work, a total of 32 trees were studied in order to established their identity and genetic relationships to the main cultivated material in the Iberian Peninsula. The analysis of 11 morphological features of the endocarp and 14 microsatellite markers allowed three different cultivars to be identi ed among the sampled trees. Compar- ison with the morphological and molecular pro les available in the World Olive Germplasm Bank of Cordoba (WOGBC) revealed that 24 trees (75%) were of the ‘Brava’ cultivar and 7 (22%) of the ‘Mansa’ cultivar. The other tree, labelled as Picuda, matched no speci c cultivar in WOGBC. Characterizing the oils obtained from the studied cultivars revealed a high potential for producing high-quality EVOOs of speci c origin.

A widely used spectrophotometric assay to quantify olive oil biophenols according to the health claim (EU Reg. 432/2012)

European Journal of Lipid Science and Technology

DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.201500313

The purpose of this work was to find a simple, cheap, and suitable method, among the most widely employed, able to guarantee a proper determination and quantification of the phenolic content of extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs), in order to satisfy the requirements of the specific health claim (EU Reg. 432/2012). Total phenolic content by Folin–Ciocalteu (FC) was used and compared versus phenolic profile by HPLC-UV, considering this latter as the most sensitive and specific method for evaluating the phenolic content. Both protocols were performed before and after an acid hydrolysis of the polar phenolic fraction that involves a break of the bound forms of hydroxytyrosol (HTyr) and tyrosol (Tyr), with a simplification of the phenolic profile, and quantification of their total free forms. Results of the phenolic compounds of twelve EVOOs, determined by the different analytical approaches, were statistically compared by means of two-tailed paired t-tests: data obtained by the FC assay (expressed as HTyr) before and/or after acid hydrolysis were statistically comparable with results obtained by acid hydrolysis-HPLC (as sum of HTyr and Tyr).