|
California
Olive Oil
News© |
||||||||||||||
|
Volume 9 Issue 9/10 |
September - October 2006 |
|||||||||||||
| Health Effects of Polyphenols in Virgin Olive Oil | New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition | |||||||||||||
| Plant Smells - Cues for Nutritional Value? | Briefs: | |||||||||||||
| Paso Robles Olive Oil Festival | Events: | |||||||||||||
| Comments from the Internet: | ||||||||||||||
| <-- Previous | ||||||||||||||
|
Public Olive Mills Olive Mills usually require advance notice before bringing in those orchard boxes. Every year newbies discover that they need a milling slot reserved, which also will determine picking time. Consult your local olive mill. See our complete listing of olive mills in the US. This year there are plenty of options available. There are mills with stone wheels, single or double grinders, small batch , closed atmosphere, inert gas or vacuum malaxation and centrifugal or hydraulic separation. Many mills can finish your oil with clarification or filtering. Health Effects of Polyphenols in Virgin Olive Oil by John Deane M.D. Many consumers worried about their health tend to want to deconstruct a healthy diet and ask what single components can be taken as an extract or pill. The heart healthy Mediterranean diet has been found to be high in antioxidant B vitamins. But a recent study showed that just taking B vitamins does not have the same effect. Adding vitamins actually increased the risk of a heart attack. The foods must be consumed whole to get the beneficial effect of the vitamins. An article in the September 2006 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine asked a similar question; are some of the benefits of eating a Mediterranean diet due to the oleic acid in olive oil or must you eat a whole food product such as a virgin oil which has its many accompanying antioxidants? The conclusions put any controversy about that to bed: "Olive oil is more than a monounsaturated fat. Its phenolic content can also provide benefits for plasma lipid levels and oxidative damage." The more phenols the oil had, the more healthful it seemed to be. The Study; How is was done The study involved 6 research centers from 5 European countries ; the Eurolive study group. The study was a randomized, crossover, controlled trial; statistically the strongest type of study to confirm the findings. Three oils were prepared. A virgin olive oil was picked which had a high concentration of polyphenols (366 mg/kg). Refined olive oil was then made from the same olives. The refining essentially removed all the polyphenols (2.7mg/kg). This oil was then adjusted to have the same vitamin E, vitamin C, beta carotene, saturated and polyunsaturated content. An oil with medium concentration of polyphenols (164 mg/kg) was made by mixing the first two. The participants consumed 25ml per day of one of the three oils in replacement of other raw fats for 3 weeks. Urine samples were tested for substances in olive oil to see if the olive oil was actually consumed. Blood levels of glucose, cholesterol and a variety of biomarkers of oxidative damage from lipids (can you say 2-(4-iodophenyl)-3-(4-nitrophenyl)-5-phenyltetrazolium chloride?) were measured. The study subjects ate no olive oil for two weeks then repeated the cycle with another of the study oils. The conclusions A daily 25ml dose of all three olive oils (the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommendation) improved the ratio of good cholesterol to bad and improved triglyceride levels. The higher the phenol content of the oil, the higher the HDL "good" cholesterol and the higher the level of antioxidants in the blood. The antioxidants prevent damage to LDL "bad" cholesterol and lowers the likelihood of clots in the blood vessels which can lead to heart disease. Why this study is important The study had good statistical power, it is not merely anecdotal. It was performed on humans, not lab animals or cell cultures. Virgin olive oil lowered known cardiovascular risk factors but because of the short time of the intervention, the study could not prove that people who eat olive oil have fewer heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular diseases. Which olive oils have high polyphenols? The health conscious will want to know which olive
oil has the highest polyphenols. Phenol content is determined
by olive variety, time of picking, olive condition and processing
method, whether the oil is refined and the length of time the oil
has been stored. Olive Condition - Picked olives which sit for
more than 24 hours before processing start to lose antioxidants.
Bruised olives or olives damaged by the olive fly will have higher
acidity and lower antioxidants. Polyphenols in different olive oils - bragging rights. As polyphenols become a household word, they are being seen on labels and websites. Apollo olive oil in Oregon House, California claims on the front page of their website up to 750mg/liter of polyphenols. That is about 675mg/kg, twice what the study used as its high polyphenol oil. To stay competitive more producers will start to brag about their polyphenol content. Oils which are higher in polyphenols tend to be harsher, more bitter and stronger flavored. Many consumers prefer a mellower oil made from olives which just don't have the same polyphenols. It would be a pity if the industry felt compelled to move toward these stronger oils for the polyphenol hype value. Polyphenols in other foods. One must look at the larger picture and examine the contribution of each food in the diet to polyphenols. If the oil in the study had 366mg/kg = 330mg/liter of polyphenols, then the 25cc recommended daily allotment adds just 8.25 mg of polyphenols to the diet. Vegetables, legumes, fruits, tea, coffee, nuts, chocolate, wine and beer all add polyphenols. Comparing their values makes the debate a bit clearer. Polyphenols in various foods: 500 mg in a tiny 40-g (about 1 oz.) square of dark
chocolate Other foods producers are hip to the marketing potential of antioxidants. A box of Lipton tea now comes with a new line of bold text across the top: "175mg protective antioxidants naturally per serving"; more antioxidants in one cup of tea than a whole liter of an average extra virgin olive oil. There's even a new proprietary antioxidant logo that Unilever, owner of the brand, has created.
Other Antioxidants Polyphenols are antioxidants common in oils but
there are many water soluble antioxidants. The Oxygen Radical
Absorbance Capacity (ORAC) is a method of measuring
antioxidant contents in different foods. According to the FDA's
Administrator Floyd P. Horn. "If these findings are borne out in
further research, young and middle-aged people may be able to reduce
risk of diseases of aging--including senility--simply by adding
high-ORAC foods to their diets. According to a recent Wikipedia entry, "a number of health food companies have capitalized on the ORAC rating, with dozens selling concentrated supplements that they claim to be "the number one ORAC product", some purporting that their supplements have a value of more than 25,000 ORAC units per 100 gram serving. It is not known whether such values are accurate or if such concentrated antioxidants can be absorbed by the human body as effectively as those found in natural foods." Measuring Polyphenols Antioxidants Olive oil has not traditionally been labeled with polyphenol content. The California Olive Oil Council requires testing for acidity and peroxide and an Ultra Violet Absorbency test. Most labs which test for acidity will also test for polyphenols. Several California mills have equipment to test polyphenols. As antioxidants become more of a marketing factor, producers may need to pay more attention to factors which enhance them. Having one's own electronic tester allows for some interesting experimentation. Producers can test the effect of olive variety, ripeness, harvest method, time to milling, milling method and pest infestation. Different oil batches could be blended to optimize antioxidants. Planting decisions could be changed depending on results. See testing equipment for prices on a typical setup. Conclusion: Producers of olive oil should be proud of their healthful product and may want to promote antioxidants. There are probably many other healthy components of olive oil and the Mediterranean diet which we have not discovered. By buying a whole food such as virgin olive oil you will probably be getting at least 100 times more polyphenols than pure or refined olive oil or most seed oils. Buying one which has the right type of olives may double your polyphenols from there, but you may not like the flavor of a Tuscan variety or early harvest oil. Olive oil is just one food in the diet - remember what your mother told you, eat your fruits and vegetables (and have a cup of green tea and a bit of chocolate for dessert). Annals of Internal Medicine p 333 volume 145 number 5 September 5 2006 Paso Robles Olive Oil Festival The Paso Robles Olive Oil Festival kept its reputation this year as the biggest olive oil event of its type in the state of California. The festivities began with a semiformal dinner at the historic Park ballroom in downtown Paso Robles and was sponsored by Pieralisi, The Olive Oil Source and We Olives.
The festival was held in the large town square decorated by 15 olive trees donated by festival sponsor Olivas de Oro. Frank and Marty Menacho sponsored the event after relocating thousands of their 95 year old olive trees from Northern California to their new estate orchard site in Creston. The trees will be joined by a new high density olive orchard and pressing facility. Thirty olive oil producers had booths for tasting and purchase of over a hundred different oils. Mild weather this year encouraged attendees to sit and listen to music, a talk on olive oil tasting by Karen Guth, president of the California Olive Oil Council, or watch an olive oil recipe cook-off. Many alternated olive oil tasting with wine tasting from the many excellent local wineries participating. Gourmet olive dishes were available from vendors on "Culinary Row".
email us to place free ads for growers and producers |
Plant Smells - Cues for Nutritional Value? Do you love the smell of fresh pressed olive oil, the smell of the produce aisle of the supermarket or the local Farmer's market? Your nose may be telling you what foods are heavy in nutrients. Animals evolved the sense of smell and taste to find nutritious foods and to avoid toxins. Many plants such as the tomato depend on their fruit being eaten by animals for seed dispersal. The most successful varieties of wild tomatoes have developed nutrients that are important to animals and therefore smell better. We are attracted to them for our benefit and the benefit of the tomato. According to a recent study in Science magazine, plants produce many volatile compounds but only a small of subset of these are sensed by animals and humans. In many plants almost all of the important flavor-related volatiles are derived from essential nutrients. Plants produce different volatiles at different stages of maturation. The "flavor fingerprint" that helps animals and humans discriminate healthy foods from poor or dangerous ones is made up of a small number of volatiles. These volatiles are produced in highest proportion when the fruit is ripe, the seeds are mature and the nutrients at are at their peak. The authors of the article describe how domestication of plants has had a negative effect on flavor production. In the case of the tomato, breeding programs have focused on yield, color, shape and disease resistance. Flavor has not been a high priority to breeders. Highly bred tomatoes do not have as strong a flavor as the wild plant and studies show that the essential nutrient level of the wild plants are several times higher. By breeding out the flavor, nutrients have been lost. The same has been found in strawberries. It is not your imagination that many fruits today don't smell like the wild or heirloom varieties. It is interesting to extrapolate the author's findings to the olive. The most domesticated olive trees are the clone dwarf varieties. Just as with tomatoes, characteristics such as early maturity, fecundity, and disease resistance have been selected. The oil from these varieties tend to be more mellow and have a lower level of antioxidants. Less is known about other essential nutrients than more studied plants such as the tomato. It will be a challenge for tree breeders to develop olives that have high yield characteristics and also a high level of nutrients and volatiles desirable for smell and taste. Plant Volatile Compounds; Sensory Cues for Health and Nutritional Value?, Stephen A. Goff and Harry j. Klee Science Vol 311, 10 February 2006 New Zealand Gourmet Oil Competition Matapiro Olives won Best
in Show from all Gold Medal winners for the 2006 New Zealand Gourmet
Oil Competition. There was little surprise with the awarding
of Best in Show, following the blind judging and the unveiling judge
Terry Copeland commented “…no surprise, a very classy oil outfit”.
Nicola Cull, Marketing Coordinator
Mail from the Internet: Jeanne Asks: heard or read some time back about taking some olive oil (and maybe adding something(s) to it) and "chewing" it for a few minutes and then i guess spit it out...great for getting rid of toxins etc. Do you know anything about this and what is the "recipe"?? Dr. Deane Answers: I cannot find any scientific studies which suggest health benefits from chewing and spitting olive oil. There are very few toxins that are capable of building up in the body and I cannot see how any of these could get out of bones, fat deposits, etc. in the short time that one swishes olive oil. Pastry Girl
Asks:
We are a small bakery cafe looking to use olive oil in our production.
Ed at the OOS
answers:
Recommendations can be tricky as they totally depend on the
finished item you are looking for. Dr. Deane answers:
Olive oil is mostly oleic acid. There are chemical labs which can provide
pure oleic acid, but why not use olive oil; it has antioxidants and other
healthy components. Oil at the beginning of a meal can cause the valve at the outlet of the stomach to close, slowing things down. This can also cause a sooner feeling of fullness and satiation, which explains why dipping bread in olive oil as an appetizer can actually cause people to eat less and lose weight by consuming fewer total calories. An emulsion is a mixture of a fat and water. Salad
dressings and mayonnaise are typical emulsions. You could easily make
some mayonnaise from olive oil. Martin asks: For the past several days I've been confused as to whether virgin olive oil can provide me some relief from GERD (acid reflux disease). Dr. Deane responds: Back in the days before acid blocker pills, people went on an "ulcer diet" for gastritis, ulcers and gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD). It was a bland diet heavy on cream and other fats. While fats can soothe the esophagus and stomach and tighten the valve at the bottom of the stomach, they decrease the tone of the valve at the top of the stomach. This is the valve that keeps acid in your stomach and stops you from burping up acid into the sensitive esophagus. If you are serious about controlling your GERD the acid blockers (omeprazole, famotidine, ranitidine, etc.) are much more effective than eating olive oil. Events 2006 September EDIBLE OIL 06 - International Edible Fats and Oils Show 19–22 September 2006 Seville Spain, C/ Noguera 9, 17300 Blanes (Girona) Tel: +34 902 364 149, Fax: +34 972 355314, http://www.edibleoil.net October 9th Annual Cañada College Arts & Olive Festival
October 1, 2006 Canada College 4th Euro Fed Lipid Congress Oils, Fats and Lipids for
a Healthier Future October 1 - 4 2006,
University of Madrid (UCM), Spain Link:
Euro Fed Lipid November ECOLIVA 6th annual meeting,
November 3-5 2006. in Sierra de Segura, Jaén ,Spain. UC Davis Specialty Table Olive Processing Short Course, November 14,15 2006 Davis, CA presented by UC Davis extension. Register online at http://www.extension.ucdavis.edu Faculty: Bill Krueger, Stan Kailis, Keith Ito. $395 2007 March Sensory Evaluation of Olive Oil, March 30,31, 2007 UC Davis Extension Register online at http://www.extension.ucdavis.edu August 4th Annual Paso Robles Olive Festival: Saturday, August 25th, 2007 Remember also the Pre-Olive Festival Dinner: Friday, August 24th 2007. September 5th Euro Fed Lipid Congress,
16-19 September 2007, Gothenburg, Sweden Olive Oil Fairs, Festivals, Competitions and Events
Subscribe:
Copyright © April 06, 2008 The Olive Oil Source. All rights reserved.
|
|||||||||||||
