EXTRA VIRGIN describes a broad category of olive oils and should be viewed as a minimum standard and not an indication of superior quality.   While it is true that all high quality olive oil is extra virgin it is equally true that most olive oils labeled EXTRA VIRGIN are not high quality.  This is because the chemical and sensory parameters established for the grade are so broad that they include very average and mediocre as well as better qualities.  There are no established OBJECTIVE standards for extra virgin olive oil in the United States or the world for that matter.  Trade organizations like the IOOC, (International Olive Oil Council) NAOOA, (North American Olive Oil Association), COOC (California Olive Oil Council) are controlled by olive oil producers and not by any independent agency that represents the interests and welfare of the public.  While these trade associations publish standards they are absurdly low and seldom if ever enforced.  They function primarily as marketing associations for their respective members.   In addition, olive oil is perishable and is generally better when it isfresher.  Certain critical beneficial attributes like polyphenol levels, antioxidants, flavor and aromas decline over time while undesirable conditions like rancidity, and the formation of free radicals develop.  There is a direct correlation between good chemical attributes and nutrition, shelf life, and taste.  Olive oil is graded by both its attributes and its defects.  Two of the most important POSITIVE chemical attributes are Polyphenol counts, and Oleic acid levels.  The two most significant NEGATIVEchemical attributes are Free Fatty Acid levels and Peroxide values. In general, the higher the polyphenols counts and Oleic acid levels the better, and just the reverse for FFA’s and Peroxide values.

OLIVE OIL TERMS

POSITIVE ATTRIBUTES:

POLYPHENOLS -  Polyphenol intake has been associated with lower incidence of cancer and coronary heart disease (CHD) .  Polyphenols give olive oil its unique taste and improve its shelf life.  Some extra virgin olive oils contain far more, (up to 500% more) polyphenols than others.  The time of harvest, the variety, the method of extraction, and the management of the grove will affect the phenol count.   Processing or refining olive oil destroys the polyphenols in olive oil.  Refined olive oils like “pure olive oil”, “lite olive oil”, and “pomace olive oil” have little or no polyphenols, but the same amount of calories.  Heat, light, oxygen, and time cause polyphenol levels in olive oil to decline.  Unfortunaely, olive oil producers are not required to disclose the phenolic content in their olive oil.  The polyphenol count is not part of the codex of standards required by the IOOC, NAOOA, or the COOC.  As a general rule, the more robust oils have higher phenolic compounds than the milder oils.  Olive oils with less than 120 (as expressed by mg/kg) are considered low.  Virgin oils with a PPH count between 120 and 220 are considered medium.  Olive oils with PPH counts above 220 are considered HIGH in polyphenols.  Some of the more intense extra virgin olive oils will contain levels as high as 500.

OLEIC ACID – OMEGA-9 monounsaturated fat is found at varying concentrations in virgin olive oil.   It is believed to lower the risk of heart attack (CHD), arteriosclerosis, and cancer.  Virgin olive oils containing higher levels of OLEIC ACID tend to be more stable and hold up longer.  In this sense high oleic acid tends to act as a natural preservative. Oleic acid is measured in olive oil as a percentage.  The levels range from 45% to 80%+.   Extra virgin oils with low oleic acid levels and low polyphenol counts will have a markedly reduced shelf life.

SOME NEGATIVE INDICATORS: In this case less is more. 

FREE FATTY ACIDS- FFA’s is the measurement of free fatty acids in olive oil.  In a sense the FFA level is an indicator of the condition of the fruit at the time the oil was extracted.  It’s like a freshness quotient. When olives begin to decompose the level of free fatty acid increases. Fruit on the tree decays at a slower rate than fruit that has been removed from the stem.  Once the fruit has been picked or the skin is broken the fruit decomposes at an accelerated pace.  Ripeness plays a large role in the level of FFA’s.  Over ripe fruit produces a higher yield of oil to olive by weight but the free fatty acid increases as well.  This is why there is so much substandard olive oil produced.  Farmers are rewarded by a higher yield if they allow the fruit to become over ripe.

FFA’s increase over time.  Many olive oils that are close to the limit at the time of bottling become defective and outside the allowable limits soon after they are bottled or opened.  When olive oil is exposed to air, light, or heat decomposition increases until the oil is unfit for human consumption.  Rancid oil is harmful and a source of free radicals.  Olives that are crushed within 24 hours of picking will generally produce a higher grade of extra virgin olive oil provided the quality of the fruit and accepted methods of extraction are followed.  Though difficult, it is possible to crush the fruit within hours after picking.  Some farms have a mill on or close to the the groves and manage to crush the olives within a few hours after picking.  Fruit that is picked at the optimum level of ripeness and crushed within hours of picking will have much lower FFA  and peroxide levels.  In some cases as much as ten times lower than the IOOC standard.  It is entirely reasonable to expect that sound olives crushed in a timely fashion will produce oil with an FFA level of  .28% or less.  Extra virgin olive oils with FFA levels above .35% should not be considered premium extra virgin olive oil.   The IOOC allows an olive oil to be graded as extra virgin and have a FFA level of .8%.  The COOC allows the oil to have an FFA level of .5% and still be graded as extra virgin.

PEROXIDES- Peroxides are naturally occurring compounds in all edible oils.  They are essentially a measurement of rancidity or oxidation.  In the case of peroxides and olive oil, less is more.  Peroxide values increase over time and are indicators of the level of oxidation at the time of processing and increase according to storage conditions.  Poor storage conditions will cause rapid oxidation and rancidity.  The more oxygen, light and heat the oil is exposed to the faster the oil will become rancid.   Olive oil keeps far better in bulk than in tiny glass or clear plastic containers. High peroxide levels are an indication of poor processing practices, substandard fruit condition, old age, improper storage or any combination of these negative conditions.  The IOOC rules state that (IOOC codex) extra virgin olive oils must show a peroxides value under 20.(Expressed as meq O2/kg)

Veronica Foods

Delizia Olive Oil Company

When:  Thursday, August 11, 2011 

Time:  5:30pm to 8:30pm 

Where: 8951 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90069 

Oliana offers an amazing olive oil tasting experience in a unique environment. We have more than forty (40) stainless steel tanks which we call “fustis” dispensing a wide variety of hand crafted oils and vinegars.  We allow customers to explore and discover olive oils and aged balsamic vinegars tailored to their palettes and/or applications. We encourage you to taste different pairings of oils and vinegars to create your own unique blends.

We hope you can join us in celebrating this auspicious event.  If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact us via email at weho@olianaoil.com or telephone at 310-888-1874.

Consumption of olive oil has long been associated with health benefits such as lower cholesterol and a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease. There have also been suggestions that people with diets rich in olive oil may have a lower risk of some cancers due to the anti-inflammatory properties of polyphenols contained in olive oil. A polyphenol of olive oil, 2-(3, 4-dihydroxyphenil) ethanol (DPE), which possesses both anti-inflammatory and anti-clotting activities, has been shown to reduce the tumor necrosis factor alpha–induced activation of the inflammatory pathway in an animal model of colon cancer.

Angiogenesis, the growth of new tumor blood vessels, also plays a critical role in the development, progression and metastasis of cancer. Inflammation and hypoxia, the lack of oxygen in tissues such as tumors, are closely linked to angiogenesis in cancer development. Inflammation and hypoxia stimulate angiogenesis through the upregulation of a number of cell signaling factors, including hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1a), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and prostaglandin E2 (PGE-2). PGE-2 has been shown to promote both tumor growth and angiogenesis.

Given the established anti-inflammatory properties of olive oil, researchers in Italy, Spain, and at the U.S. National Cancer Institute sought to find out whether the olive oil polyphenol DPE could inhibit angiogenesis in mice with implanted human colorectal cancers. The scientists also used several assays to evaluate the specific anti-tumor and antiangiogenic activities of DPE. As expected, DPE inhibited the production and activity of PGE-2, HIF-1 alpha, and vascular endothelial growth factor, the primary angiogenesis-stimulating protein, and inhibited the growth of colorectal cancer cells in vitro. Mice that were fed DPE (10 mg/kg/day for 14 days) had reduced tumor growth, likely due to the antiangiogenic effects of DPE.

Inflammation, angiogenesis and cancer development are closely linked processes with a complex interplay of signaling pathways. This study indicates that compounds with anti-inflammatory and antiangiogenic properties, such as DPE, resveratrol and other polyphenols, might be combined with chemotherapy drugs or used separately as chemoprevention.

By Roderick Smith, M.S.

References: Terzuoli E, et al. Clin Cancer Res;16(16), August 15, 2010.

Margaret Raber
Posted: July 7, 2011

Since the coining of the term “French Paradox” in 1992, researchers have been examining various aspects of the so-called “Mediterranean diet” to discover why the people of southern Europe live longer, with fewer cases of heart disease, than Americans and Northern Europeans. A new study from Yale University School of Medicine has identified oleuropein, a component in olive oil, as a possible factor.

During the study, recently published in the journal European Society for Vascular Surgery, Yale researchers tested the effects of oleuropein, a polyphenol in olive oil, on smooth muscle cells (SMC), which make up the muscles in blood vessels that regulate blood pressure. The scientists harvested SMC from cows and allowed the cells to grow in the lab, regulating their development and adding doses of oleuropein.

Normally, vascular SMC controls blood flow by increasing blood pressure as the muscle contracts and decreasing it as the muscle relaxes. When SMC is damaged by high LDL cholesterols (the “bad” kind of cholesterol found in gooey brie, for example) the body sends a team of white blood cells to fight off the inflammation. But white blood cells end up causing even more damage by mixing with oxidized LDL and forming “foam cells.” SMC proliferates to try to heal itself. The new SMC cells combine with the foam cells to form plaques on artery walls. Over time, that process leads to atherosclerosis, high blood pressure and heart disease.

The scientists found that the more oleuropein they added, the less SMC developed. Growth decreased by as much as 92 percent when the team administered a high dose of oleuropein. The team concluded that oleuropein in olive oil restricts SMC from proliferating and therefore could be protective against heart failure.

On a practical level, that means if you’re relaxing on the coast of France with a piece of fish drowning in olive oil followed by a cheese plate, you are jumpstarting the plaque-making process. But at the point where SMC is supposed to grow and mix with the foam cells, the oleuropein is restricting growth, leading to reduced plaques and a healthier, more Mediterranean heart.

Research on the benefits of olive oil is gathering steam. Earlier studies also found that extra-virgin olive oil limited LDL oxidization in rabbits, decreasing plaque formation. And in a study recently published in Neurology, researchers noted a 41 percent reduced risk of stroke for older French adults who consumed olive oil regularly. Researchers followed more than 7,500 French subjects and found the top third of heaviest olive oil consumers enjoyed a 73 percent decreased risk compared to those in the bottom tier.
The oleuropein study was not on human cells, and one would need to drink an extraordinary amount of extra-virgin oil to reach the high levels used in the study—oil containing 2 kilograms of oleuropein as opposed to the standard .50 milligrams currently ingested daily by most Mediterraneans.

Despite the study’s limitations, the Yale scientists hypothesize that olive oil consumption could have cumulative effects throughout one’s lifetime. “These in vitro studies are important because there are so many polyphenols [in olive oil],” Dr. Bauer Sumpio, chief of vascular surgery at Yale School of Medicine and the lead author on the study, told Wine Spectator. “If we can screen these polyphenols based on their distinct biologic properties we may be able to have focused human trials.” Could this eventually mean olive oil polyphenols in a pill? Perhaps, but for now, just consider replacing that butter dish with a dipping bowl.