” In light of the unique combination properties of oleuropein, it looks like we should “go back to the future” and continue to exploit this key dietary component of the Mediterranean diet to promote human health .”
Archaeological evidence suggests that Neolithic inhabitants of the Mediterranean basin have collected and consumed olives since the copper age (sixth millennium BC) and that during the third millennium BC, the cultivation of olive trees and oil production were well established in the region. Over the centuries, olive oil has been used as a cosmetic and pharmacological agent. Recently the beneficial effects of virgin olive oil have been ascribed to the content of polyphenols, which exert antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, antimicrobial, antiviral, anti-atherogenic, hypoglycemic, hepatic-, cardiac- and neuro-protective effects Virgin olive oil is consumed unrefined, and humans absorb a large part of the ingested olive oil phenols. Oleuropein, the molecule responsible for unprocessed olives characteristic bitter taste, is the most prevalent phenolic component in olive leaves.
Olive oil and olive leaf extract are renowned natural traditional remedies used for the treatment of different conditions, including dermatitis, wound healing and treatment of burns, stomach and intestinal pain, malaria-induced fever, different infections, alopecia, rheumatic pain, otitis, rickets, distortions, sciatica, hypertension, as a diuretic, as a laxative and as an aphrodisiac.
