Sustained consumption of virgin olive oil with the high phenolic content was more effective in protecting LDL from oxidation and in rising HDL cholesterol levels than that of other type of olive oils. Dose-dependent changes in oxidative stress markers, and phenolic compounds in urine, were observed with the phenolic content of the olive oil administered. Our results support the hypothesis that virgin olive oil consumption could provide benefits in the prevention of oxidative processes.

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A simple and reproducible method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of phenolic compounds in virgin olive oils by solid-phase extraction (SPE), high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD), and HPLC-mass spectrometry (MS) in tandem mode was developed. The polar fraction was obtained from samples of three different virgin olive oils. Detection and quantification were performed at 280, 240, and 320 nm. For identification purposes, HPLC-MS/MS was equipped with turbo ion spray source in the negative-ion mode. Twenty compounds of twenty-three detected and quantified were characterized. The method showed satisfactory linearity (r > 0.99), good recovery, satisfactory precision, and appropriate limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ).

Objective: To measure the incorporation of oleic acid and antioxidants (phenols and vitamin E) to low density lipoprotein (LDL) after acute and short-term ingestion of virgin olive oil. To study whether this incorporation contributes to an increase in LDL resistance to oxidation. Setting: Department of Food and Nutrition, University of Barcelona, Spain and Department of Lipids and Cardiovascular Epidemiology, IMIM, Barcelona, Spain. Subjects: Sixteen healthy volunteers aged 25 -65 y. Design and interventions: To observe the change in the fatty acid profile, vitamin E, phenolic compounds and LDL oxidationrelated variables after the postprandial phase and after daily ingestion of olive oil for one week. Results: Few changes were observed in the postprandial phase. However, after a week of olive oil consumption there was an increase in oleic acid (P ¼ 0.015), vitamin E (P ¼ 0.047), phenolics (P ¼ 0.021) and lag time (P ¼ 0.000), and a decrease in the maximum amount of dienes (P ¼ 0.045) and oxidation rate (P ¼ 0.05). Conclusion: After ingestion of virgin olive oil, an increase in antioxidants and oleic acid in LDL was observed as well as an improvement of LDL resistance to oxidation. Our results support the idea that daily ingestion of virgin olive oil could protect LDL from oxidation.