Oleocanthal: A Naturally Occurring Anti-Inflammatory Agent in Virgin Olive Oil

Abstract

Research on the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory olive oil phenolic, (-)decarboxymethyl ligstroside aglycone (more commonly known as oleocanthal) has supported speculation that this compound may confer some of the health benefits associated with the traditional Mediterranean diet. Oleocanthal elicits a peppery, stinging sensation at the back of the throat similar to that of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), ibuprofen (Beauchamp et al., 2005) and this localized irritation is due to stimulation of the transient receptor potential cation channel A1 (TRPA1) (Peyrot des Gachons et al., 2011). The perceptual similarity between oleocanthal and ibuprofen spurred the hypothesis that these two compounds may possess similar pharmacological properties. Further investigation demonstrated that oleocanthal inhibits inflammation in the same way as ibuprofen, and moreover, is substantially more potent on a equimolar basis (Beauchamp et al., 2005). Subsequent studies have shown that oleocanthal exhibits various modes of action in reducing inflammatoryrelated disease, including neuro-degenerative disease (Pitt et al., 2009, Li et al., 2009), jointdegenerative disease (Iacono et al., 2010) and specific cancers (Elnagar et al., 2011). Therefore, long term consumption of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) containing oleocanthal may contribute to the health benefits associated with the Mediterranean dietary pattern. This chapter summarizes the current knowledge on oleocanthal, in terms of its sensory and physiological properties, its extraction from the oil matrix and subsequent identification and quantification, and finally the factors that may influence the concentration of oleocanthal in EVOO.