Olive oil is a basic product of our country both in commercial and nutritional terms and has been the subject of multiple studies on its beneficial properties. In recent years, extra virgin olive oil has been chosen for conducting experiments since it shows higher percentages of phenolic components, namely those used, oleocanthal and oleasin. Oleocanthal and oleasin have attracted the interest of the scientific community in recent years with the results already being very significant. The value of the research in this particular subject is particularly great if you take into account that in the midst of a crisis in the Greek area, there is a tendency for the population to return to the agricultural sector and thus any contribution to increasing the value of primary and secondary products such as olive oil is of particular importance. However, the connection of the quality of olive oil with the concentration of phenols in recent years has in some cases led to an increase in its price.
Oleocanthal has shown a protective effect against normal cells while populations fed high amounts of extra virgin olive oil appear to be protected from cardiovascular disease. It shows anti-inflammatory actions as well as cytotoxic actions against cancer lines. In other words, it is a substance with varied and very different properties.
Oleiacin is one of the two main active ingredients of olive oil. Oleasin has attracted the interest of researchers internationally, because it is the most powerful antioxidant component of olive oil. Oleasin is a polyphenol found in olive oil in different proportions. This depends on the quality of the olive oil (extra virgin or virgin), on the variety of the olive fruit and on the geographical origin, as there are differences between, for example, the olive producing prefectures of Greece.
The main therapeutic effect of oleasin is the anti-inflammatory effect, in addition to the antioxidant effect. The research that came to this conclusion was published on November 1, 2015 in the journal Phytomedicine and was developed by a team of researchers led by Agnieszka Filipek from the Medical University of Warsaw.
The cardioprotective action of olive oil was studied by a group of researchers in California, with the participation of two Greeks, who are now considered among the pioneers in the study of these elements: Dr. Prokopi Mayatis and dr. Eleni Melliou. The research was conducted in 2015 on olive oil consumers in the US and its results were published in the Journal of Functional Foods in September 2017.
But the Mayati-Melliou duo did not stop there and towards the end of 2020 they gave us another important publication, this time in collaboration with Spanish scientists. The team of researchers Beatriz Gutierrrez-Miranda, Isabel Gallardo, Isabel Cabero, Yolanda Alvarez, Marita Hernandez, Maria Luisa Nieto (Institute of Biology and Molecular Genetics of Valladolid, Spain), Eleni Melliou and Prokopis Maiatis (Pharmacy EKPA, Greece) demonstrated for the first time time that the natural active component of olive oil, oleasin, can stop the progression of autoimmune encephalomyelitis giving much hope for the possible beneficial effect of this component in the treatment of multiple sclerosis in humans.
As part of the study, hundreds of different olive oils were investigated and branded extra virgin olive oil from the Koutsourelia and Koroneiki variety (Northern Peloponnese) was selected as one of the best raw materials for the isolation of pure oleasin.
The substance was administered to experimental animals in injectable form and investigated for its effect on the main clinicopathological features of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model mimicking human multiple sclerosis, including paralysis, demyelination, inflammation of the central nervous system and oxidative stress. Oleasin treatment effectively reduced the clinical score and typical histological symptoms of encephalomyelitis, the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, the synthesis of pro-inflammatory mediators as well as oxidative stress. Overall, the results of the study showed that oleasin has a neuroprotective effect on the CNS of mice with encephalomyelitis, highlighting this natural component of olive oil as a promising beneficial agent for multiple sclerosis. This paves the way for the study of the effect of high phenolic olive oil on multiple sclerosis in humans, which is already underway and more results are expected soon.