Abstract
The antioxidant activity and the phenolic and α-tocopherol content of 10 Northern Italian mono- and multi-varietal extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs), after early and late olive harvests, was analyzed. A hierarchical cluster analysis was used to evaluate sample similarity. Secoiridoids (SIDs), lignans and flavonoids were the most abundant phenolic compounds identified. The organic Casaliva (among mono-cultivar) and the organic multi-varietal (among blended oils) EVOOs had the higher total phenol content both in early (263.13 and 326.19 mg/kg, respectively) and late harvest (241.88 and 292.34 mg/kg, respectively) conditions. In comparison to late harvest EVOOs, early harvest EVOOs, in particular the organic mono-cultivar Casaliva, showed both higher antioxidant capacity (up to 1285.97 Oxygen Radicals Absorbance Capacity/ORAC units), probably due to the higher SID fraction (54% vs. 40%), and higher α-tocopherol content (up to 280.67 mg/kg). Overall, these results suggest that SIDs and α-tocopherol mainly contribute to antioxidant properties of the studied EVOOs. In light of this, the authors conclude that early harvest, organic mono-cultivar Casaliva EVOO represents the most interesting candidate to explicate healthy effects ascribed to these functional constituents, particularly regarding oxidative stress-related pathologies.
Highlights
Mediterranean lifestyle includes the dietary intake of several food-derived chemicals that are thought to confer protective health effects, including the consumption of 25–30 g/day of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) as the principal source of fats [1,2]
This study evaluated the polyphenol content of organic and non-organic mono- and multi-varietal extra virgin olive oils (EVOOs) from early and late harvested olives (Table 1)
Total phenol content, determined by the Folin-Ciocalteu test and expressed as mg of gallic acid equivalents per 100 g of sample fresh weight (FW), resulted to be significantly higher in early samples obtained from organic multi-varietal EVOOs (Early Harvest Organic Multi-Varietal/EHOMV)
Summary
Mediterranean lifestyle includes the dietary intake of several food-derived chemicals that are thought to confer protective health effects, including the consumption of 25–30 g/day of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) as the principal source of fats [1,2]. The nutritional quality and the health benefits of EVOO are attributed both to its balanced fatty acid composition (high content of oleic acid and optimal ratio between ω-3 and ω-6 fatty acids) and to a significant amount of minor components with antioxidant properties in the unsaponifiable fraction, such as tocopherols and phenolic compounds [4,5]. These latter compounds have been shown, in vivo and in vitro, to possess antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-allergic, anti-inflammatory, anti-carcinogenic, and antiviral properties [2]. Experimental evidence has demonstrated that the phenolic compounds present in EVOO possess numerous biological properties and are, at least partly, responsible for the beneficial effects arising from the consumption of EVOO [8,9,10]
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