Original Reports on Oleocanthal
admin | February 16, 2010In my previous post I mentioned some of the recent research outcomes concerning the healthful phenolic called oleocanthal which is only found in extra virgin olive oil. Here are my summaries of the research, together with links to the authors summaries (abstracts). I read all the papers and try to pick up on what I think is relevant to the producers and the users of extra virgin olive oil. Hopefully I’ve done them justice.
The compound mainly responsible for pepperyness was identified as deacetoxy-ligstroside aglycon (now called oleocanthal). Andrewes et al. (2003) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12590491?dopt=Abstract
The pungency producing and anti-inflammatory phenolic Oleocanthal was resistant to degradation during prolonged heating falling by less than 16%. However, its biological activity fell by around a third when heated under the same conditions. Cicerale et al. (2009) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19166297
Median a-tocopherol levels of 263 Italian EVO’s reported as 151 mg/kg and the pungent oleocanthal as 85 mg/kg (94mg/litre). Servilli et al. (2009) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19234678
Oleocanthal induced pungency was mostly perceived at the back of the throat and was most intense at 15 seconds. Significant variation between individuals was observed. Cicerale et al. (2009) http://chemse.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/bjp006
Compared with oleuropein and hydroxytyrosol the ‘peppery’ phenolic oleocanthal best protected red blood cells from oxidative stress. Paiva-Martins et al. (2010) http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf9031052
Low doses of the major extra virgin olive oil polyphenol oleocanthal modifies amyloid-β1-42 peptide the neurotoxin implicated in Alzheimers Disease. Leads to less synaptic and neuronal deterioration. Pitt et al. (2009) http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=22114732