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Dear Colleagues and Friends,
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Children and youth people
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Cardiovascular and metabolic syndrome
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Quality of life and social factors
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Naturally occurring phenols such as those in fruits, vegetables, cereals, tea and coffee are common in healthy diets. These components have been ascribed to extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) and explain its health properties. Oleocanthal is one of the most abundant phenolic compounds found in EVOO, which in conjunction with similar compounds confer EVOO its anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. Moreover, extra virgin olive oil intake is associated with reduced cardiovascular risk, in part due to its phenolic compounds. In an intervention study on 23 subjects with metabolic syndrome and hepatic steatosis, extra virgin olive oil with a high oleocanthal concentration was administered daily for 2 months. The results showed that extra virgin olive oil supplementation was associated with a reduction in body weight, waist circumference, body mass index, and had beneficial effects on metabolic parameters, inflammatory cytokines and abdominal fat distribution.
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The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has recently authorised a health claim to designate olive oils that contain at least 250 mg/Kg of specific phenolic compounds, a concentration that only EVOO and VOO of the highest quality may contain. A study on this subject set out to identify which olive varieties, and at what maturation state (green, turning, and mature), could yield an EVOO that complies with the novel EFSA health claim. Half a dozen varieties of industries most commonly used olives for olive oil production were analyzed, including Picual, Cornicabra, Hojiblanca, Picudo, Lechín and Arbequina. The authors conclude that certain olives at specific maturation states, described at length in this article, do in fact produce an EVOO that surpasses the total phenolic content established in the EFSA health claim. These results could be used to guide the olive oil industry to produce EVOOs of greater antioxidant content with possible implications on cardiovascular disease risk.
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