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

Preparative isolation of oleocanthal, tyrosol, and hydroxytyrosol from olive oil by HPCCC

“…Recent research has attributed numerous beneficial effects of olive oil to its phenolic components and among those especially to OLC (Cicerale, Lucas & Keast, 2012). This fosters a lot of interest in further in vivo studies to get a deeper insight into the therapeutic potential of this compound.…”

“…For developing an efficient isolation methodology, the quantification of OLC in different olive oils as a starting material is highly recommended as the content differs depending on the olive cultivar, origin and processing (Fabiani et al, 2011;Cicerale, Lucas & Keast, 2012). The comparison of six EVOOs from the Austrian market showed the highest amounts of OLC (approx.…”

“…Differences in the concentration of phenolics in EVOO depending on the cultivar, on the origin or on the processing of the olives are well known (Fabiani et al, 2011;Cicerale, Lucas & Keast, 2012). For the selection of a source rich in OLC, several EVOOs from the Austrian market were extracted and analyzed by HPLC (data not shown).…”

“…The impact of phenolics in EVOO became evident by the fact that other seed oils with similar concentrations of monounsaturated fatty acids do not show health benefits comparable to EVOO (; Lopez-Miranda et al 2010;). Approximately 40 phenolics from the major classes of phenolic acids and alcohols, lignans, flavonoids and secoiridoids have been detected in olive oil (Cicerale, Lucas & Keast, 2012). Most abundant are the alcohols tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol as well as the secoiridoids oleuropein, ligstroside and their derivatives (Goulas, Charisiadis, Gerothanassis & Manganaris, 2012).…”

Olive oil

“…Biological activities such as free radical scavenging/antioxidant actions, anti-inflammatory effects, antiatherogenic effect, anticarcinogenic properties, antimicrobial activities, and the effect on expression of genes as well as metabolism and bioavailability have been systematically reviewed by Tripoli et al (2005), Visioli (2006), Kampa et al (2009), Fernandez-Bolanos et al (2011), Cicerale et al (2011), Obied et al (2012, Rafehi et al (2012), Gómez-Romero et al (2012), Castañer et al (2012), and Servili et al (2014). There are hundreds of studies aiming at evaluating health effects of extra virgin olive oil due to polar phenols and assessing the nutraceutical properties of different kinds of olive oil and individual phenols.…”