Olive Oil and Health Benefits
Robert E.C. Wildman, Richard S. Bruno in Handbook of Nutraceuticals and Functional Foods, 2019
Olives have been associated with Mediterranean cultures for some time. The cultivated olive is originally native to the eastern Mediterranean region but is cultivated throughout that area and in other parts of the world that have climates like the Mediterranean area. The genus and species of the cultivated olive is Olea europea, which is grown between the 30th and 45th parallels. Spain, Italy, and Greece are the major producers of olives, with Spain being the biggest producer, followed by Italy and then Greece. Other producers in the area include Portugal, Turkey, Morocco, Tunisia, and France. More countries and regions of the world (United States, Canada, Japan, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, and Australia) are cultivating olives because of interest in the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet. In the United States, most of the production is in California due to its more Mediterranean-like climate. Olive trees normally thrive in regions where there are mild winters and hot summers. The trees cannot normally tolerate temperatures below 10°C, but they can withstand hot temperatures and are drought resistant.
Plant Source Foods
Chuong Pham-Huy, Bruno Pham Huy in Food and Lifestyle in Health and Disease, 2022
The olive tree (Olea europaea, family Oleaceae) is native to the Mediterranean region, tropical and central Asia, and various parts of Africa. It is widely cultivated for its fruit and oil (122). There are three kinds of olive fruits: green olive, black olive, and brown semi-ripe olive. Raw or fresh olives are bitter and rarely consumed. They are often prepared by fermentation in order to remove the bitter taste caused by a phenolic compounds present in the raw fruit. Fermented olive fruits are called table olives and become flavored and tasty. However, they are rich in salt, which is not good for people with high arterial blood pressure. In contrast, pure olive oil extracted from fresh fruit is good for health.
Medicinal Plants for Eczema
Namrita Lall in Medicinal Plants for Cosmetics, Health and Diseases, 2022
Olea europaea L. subsp. africana (Mill.) P. S. Green (Figure 5.4), commonly known as the olive tree, is part of the Oleaceae family and is mainly found within the eastern regions of Africa and extends toward the southern tip of the continent (Lall and Kishore, 2014; Cuneo and Leishman, 2006). This small evergreen tree is found in woodland and mountain habitats and has a distinctive purple-black fruit color (Cuneo and Leishman, 2006). Olea europaea is one of the oldest cultivated trees, dating back to around 7,000 years ago. These plants were mainly cultivated for commercial purposes; however, the oils were known for their medicinal properties (Hashmi et al., 2015).
Chemical composition, antioxidant activities, in an allergic asthma model, of Olea europaea L. leaf extracts from Collo (Skikda, Algeria)
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2022
Zineb Rouibah, Amir Ben Mensour, Ons Rekik, Mahieddine Boumendjel, Faiza Taibi, Mohamed Bouaziz, Abdelfattah El Feki, Mahfoud Messarah, Amel Boumendjel
The olive leaves, from Olea europaea L. (variety of Bouricha), were collected, in January 2016, at Collo, a region in Skikda in Eastern Algeria (Latitude: 37°.00–92361, N/Longitude: 6°.53–66367 E). Reference specimens are retained in the Gérard de Belair herbarium (gdebelair.com/) with voucher accession number ph009_07. After the harvest period, the fresh and mature green leaves were randomly handpicked at the operator’s height over the entire perimeter of three trees of the same cultivar. The collection of the leaves was done in the morning, just after evaporation of the dew.
Gastroprotective effects of oleuropein and thymol on indomethacin-induced gastric ulcer in Sprague-Dawley rats
Published in Drug and Chemical Toxicology, 2020
Kubra Koc, Salim Cerig, Serap Ucar, Suat Colak, Murat Bakir, Huseyin Serkan Erol, Serkan Yildirim, Mirkhalil Hosseinigouzdagani, Nihal Simsek Ozek, Ferhunde Aysin, Enver Fehim Kocpinar, Harun Budak, Fatime Geyikoglu
The treatment strategy of the ulcer is generally based on the antisecretory therapy and proton pump inhibitors. However, these therapeutic strategies do not have a complete protective/curative effect of this disease and they have side effects. Therefore, alternative therapies based on medicinal plants are considered as better alternatives and main source of new drugs for the treatment of peptic ulcer since histological studies revealed that these medicinal plants did not show any acute toxicity. Due to their better compatibility with the human body and lesser adverse effects as compared to the current anti-ulcer agents, there is an extensive research to find out plant derived antiulcer agents (Dharmani et al.2005, Kumar 2011). Among this agent, olive leaves, thyme oil, and their extracts are taken into consideration since they include valuable bioactive substances such as oleuropein (Ole) and thymol (Thym) (Tuck and Hayball 2002). Previous studies indicated that Ole was generally obtained from an edible food Olea europaea with various medicinal uses (El and Karakaya 2009). On the other hand, Thym is mostly derived from medicinal plants and it was extracted from Origanum species (Origanum onites and Origanum vulgare) and Thymus vulgaris (Chorianopoulos et al.2004). Olive leaf extracts itself had a potential to prevent gastritis induced by HCl/ethanol via alleviating inflammation and oxidative imbalance (Al-Quraishy et al.2017). Especially, the extracts of Origanum vulgare protected the intestinal mucosa from injuries (Azari et al.2016) and it showed a possible anti-cancer activity against colon carcinogenesis (Srihari et al.2008). Also, the extracts of T. vulgaris had potential antiulcer effects (Oliveira et al.2014).
Effects of an Olive By-Product Called Pâté on Cardiovascular Risk Factors
Published in Journal of the American College of Nutrition, 2021
Monica Dinu, Giuditta Pagliai, Francesca Scavone, Maria Bellumori, Lorenzo Cecchi, Chiara Nediani, Niccolò Maggini, Francesco Sofi, Lisa Giovannelli, Nadia Mulinacci
As the presence of olive trees (Olea europaea L.) is restricted to a specific geographical area, only a small percentage of the world population (almost 3%) consumes olive oil daily and an even smaller percentage consumes high-quality extra virgin olive oil. Moreover, during the milling process, most of the polyphenols are lost, with less than 0.5% of the total phenols contained in the fruit transferred into the olive oil (4). This loss is mainly due to the enzymatic activity of endogenous polyphenol oxidases and the limited solubility of the phenolic fraction in the olive oil.
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