During olive oil production, large volumes of water are generated and subsequently discarded. Olives contain a variety of bioactive components, and some of them, according to their partition coefficients, end up in the water phase. The current investigation aimed at comparing different methods for the extraction of biologically active components of the olive mill waste waters (OMWW) and evaluating the in vitro antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of the resulting extracts. The results indicate that OMWW extracts are able to inhibit human LDL oxidation (a process involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis) and to scavenge superoxide anions and hypochlorous acid at concentrations as low as 20 ppm. Finally, two of the three extracts also inhibited the production of leukotrienes by human neutrophils. The potency of the extracts depended on their degree of refinement: extracts containing only low molecular weight phenols were the most effective.

In this study polyphenolic compounds extracted from olive fruits of five registered cultivars were analyzed. A solid-liquid extraction (LSE) procedure with Extrelut cartridge (diatomaceous earth) using different eluents was developed to obtain polyphenolic compounds. HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS methods were applied for the quali-quantitative analysis of each fraction obtained from LSE. The results of this work show that the LSE procedure with diatomaceous earth cartridge supplies a rapid and reproducible fractioning method able to obtain a quantitative recovery of all compounds and to collect fractions directly analyzed by HPLC. A comparison among different cultivars shows significant quantitative differences in some polyphenols, such as verbascoside, anthocyanic compounds, and oleuropein derivatives.

Fresh aerial parts of different chicory varieties: green chicory (c.v. "Catalogna"), two red chicory varieties ("radicchio rosso di Chioggia" and "radicchio rosso di Treviso"), and Witloof or Belgian endive were analyzed by HPLC/DAD/MS. The chromatographic fingerprint was diagnostic for each variety. A monocaffeoyl tartaric acid, chlorogenic acid, and chicoric acid were detected in all the varieties, while cyanidin 3-O-glucoside, delphinidin 3-O-(6'' malonyl) glucoside, and cyanidin 3-O-(6'' malonyl) glucoside were the main phenolic compounds in the red varieties. The flavonoidic compounds, quercetin 3-O-glucuronide and luteolin 7-O-glucuronide, were absent in the Witloof sample. The phenolic compounds from total leaves were the same as those obtained from only the colored parts; nevertheless, the total amount was remarkably lower with a decrease of up to 80% for Belgian endive. Chemical stability at high temperature was observed for the phenolic fraction from the green variety after decoction at 100 degrees C for 30 min.

The production of olive oil yields a considerable amount of waste water, which is a powerful pollutant and is currently discarded. Polyphenols and other natural antioxidants, extracted from olives during oil extraction process, partially end up in the waste waters. Experimental and commercial olive oil waste waters from four Mediterranean countries were analyzed for a possible recovering of these biologically interesting constituents. Identification and quantitation of the main polyphenols were carried out by applying HPLC-DAD and HPLC-MS methods. Representative samples of ripe olives were also analyzed at the same time to correlate, if possible, their polyphenolic profiles with those of the corresponding olive oil waste waters. The results demonstrate that Italian commercial olive oil waste waters were the richest in total polyphenolic compounds with amounts between 150 and 400 mg/100 mL of waste waters. These raw, as yet unused, matrices could represent an interesting and alternative source of biologically active polyphenols.

Extra-virgin olive oils (EVOO), high in phenolic compounds with antioxidant properties, could be partly responsible for the lower mortality and incidence of cancer and CVD in the Mediterranean region. The present study aims to measure oxidative DNA damage in healthy human subjects consuming olive oils with different concentrations of natural phenols. A randomised cross-over trial of high-phenol EVOO (high-EVOO; 592 mg total phenols/kg) v. low-phenol EVOO (low-EVOO; 147 mg/kg) was conducted in ten postmenopausal women in Florence. Subjects were asked to substitute all types of fat and oils habitually consumed with the study oil (50 g/d) for 8 weeks in each period. Oxidative DNA damage was measured by the comet assay in peripheral blood lymphocytes, collected at each visit during the study period. Urine samples over 24 h were collected to measure the excretion of the olive oil phenols. The average of the four measurements of oxidative DNA damage during treatment with high-EVOO was 30 % lower than the average during the low-EVOO treatment (P¼ 0·02). Urinary excretion of hydroxytyrosol and its metabolite homovanillyl alcohol were significantly increased in subjects consuming high-EVOO. Despite the small sample size, the present study showed a reduction of DNA damage by consumption of an EVOO rich in phenols, particularly hydroxytyrosol.

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Separation, identification and quantification of polyphenols was carried out on leaves of Pistacia lentiscus L., an evergreen member of the family Anacardiaceae, using semi-preparative HPLC, HPLC-photodiode array detection and HPLC-MS analysis, together with 1H- and 13C NMR. Three major classes of secondary metabolites were detected: (i) gallic acid and galloyl derivatives of both glucose and quinic acid; (ii) flavonol glycosides, i.e. myricetin and quercetin glycosides; and (iii) anthocyanins, namely delphinidin 3-O-glucoside and cyanidin 3-O-glucoside. Low amounts of catechin were also detected. The concentration of galloyl derivatives was extremely high, representing 5.3% of the leaf dry weight, and appreciable amounts of myricetin derivatives were also detected (1.5% on a dry weight basis). These findings may be useful in establishing a relationship between the chemical composition of the leaf extract and the previously reported biological activity of P. lentiscus, and may also assign a new potential role of P. lentiscus tissue extracts in human health care.

Eighteen yeast species of the genera Rhodotorula, Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces, and Sporidiobolus, each one represented by its type strain, were investigated with the objective of evaluating their carotenoid composition. The pigments were extracted from yeast cells, quantified by high pressure liquid chromatography diode array detector and the main compounds were confirmed by atmospheric pressure chemical ionization quadrupole mass spectrometry. Significant (P < 0.01) differences among several species and (or) genera were observed. Thirteen strains were seen to be able to produce carotenoids, from 16.4 to 184 microg/g cell dry mass and from 6.0 to 1993.4 microg/L culture. The main carotenoids produced were identified as torularhodin, torulene, gamma-carotene, and beta-carotene. The correlation matrix calculated on the basis of the carotenoid composition data matrix indicated significant (P < 0.01) relationships between torulene and torularhodin (r = 0.81), gamma-carotene and torulene (r = 0.49), beta-carotene and torulene (r = -0.72), as well as beta-carotene and gamma-carotene (r = 0.64). These significant correlation coefficients may suggest that species belonging to the genera Rhodosporidium, Sporobolomyces, and Sporidiobolus possess a carotenoid biosynthetic pathway analogous to that elsewhere postulated for Rhodotorula species.