The Olive Tree, a Source of Antioxidant Compounds

Abstract

Products from Olea europaea L. i.e. leaves, olive oil and pomace are promising sources of bioactive compounds. In leaves, antioxidant compounds show a concentration dependence on the vegetative cycle of the trees, higher antioxidant concentration coinciding with seasonal vegetative changes. Olive oil, but particularly pomances are a rich source of health-giving effect compounds more specifically polyphenolic antioxidants. Many of these compounds may be of interest for pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industry, especially because both pomance and leaves are currently considered waste of the olive oil production.

In vitro study on the effects of exogenic fibrolytic enzymes produced from <i>Trichoderma longibrachiatum</i> on ruminal degradation of olive mill waste

“…Three samples of each by-product in each oil mill are used. These mills used three phase centrifugation processes (Tamasi et al, 2016). The dry matter content of the samples was produced by oven-drying until it reached a constant weight (AOAC 930.15).…”

Olive Tree Leaves—A Source of Valuable Active Compounds

“…Hydroxytyrosol, largely found in olive leaves, is among the main simple phenolic alcohol [51]. The formation of hydroxytyrosol, derives from the hydrolysis of oleuropein, and their numbers grow through (i) stage of maturity, (ii) processing line [6], and (iii) metabolism of oleuropein upon intake of oleuropein-based foods [17].…”

“…Tyrosol, a group of phenolic alcohol, is usually present in a trace amount in olive leaves [51]. Due to its chemical stability, it is less prone to be degraded by auto-oxidation [54].…”

A Systematic Review: Polyphenol Contents in Stressed-Olive Trees and Its Fruit Oil

“…As a defense mechanism to cope with those stressors, a large quantity accumulation or storage of polyphenols has been reported in the canopy leaves. However, the production, accumulation or secretion of the fatty acids and polyphenols are not only consequences of exogenous factors but also endogenous factors of the plant itself such as cultivar and age of plant [15][16][17][18][19]. Of those compounds, oleuropein, hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol, chlorogenic acid, caffeic acid, p-coumaric acid, verbascoside, gallic acid, ellagic acid, epicatechin, quercitrin, kaempferol, luteolin, luteolin-7-o-glucoside, luteolin-4′-o-glucoside, quercetin, quercetin-7-o-rhamnoside, rutin and apigenin-7-o-glucoside are of the phenolic alcohols, phenolic acids, flavonoids, and secoiridoids analyzed in olive leaves [15,17,[20][21][22][23][24].…”