Natural antioxidants from olive oil processing waste water

Projektinformationen

ID Finanzhilfevereinbarung: FAIR973039

Projekt abgeschlossen

Startdatum 1 Oktober 1997

Enddatum 30 September 2001

Finanziert unter

• Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of agriculture and fisheries (including agro-industry, food technologies, forestry, aquaculture and rural development), 1994-1998

Gesamtkosten

€ 1 384 000,00

EU-Beitrag

€ 1 000 000,00

Koordiniert durch

Università degli Studi di Milano
Italy

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Verwertbare Ergebnisse

Natural antioxidants from olive oil processing waste water

During olive oil production, large volumes of water are generated and subsequently discarded. Olives contain a variety of bioactive components and some of them, according to their partition coefficients, end up in the water phase. Thus, in view of the current need for upgrading by-products at all stages of the olive oil industry, the project FAIR CT 97 3039 was undertaken to investigate different procedures for the recovery of the active components of olive mill waste waters (OMWW) and to compare the antioxidant and other biological activities of the various extracts. As reported by Visioli et al. in "Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 47: 3397-3401, 1999", the results indicate that OMWW extracts are able to inhibit human LDL oxidation (a process involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis) and to scavenge superoxide anions and hypochlorous acid at concentrations as low as 20 PPM. Finally, two out of the three extracts also inhibited the production of leukotrienes by human neutrophils, indicating anti-inflammatory properties of the OMWW extracts. The potency of the extracts depended on their degree of refinement: extracts containing only low-molecular weight phenols were the most effective. Additional studies are underway to verify if such antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects could also take place in vivo and investigate the exact enzymatic target of the bioactive compounds. In conclusion, these data show that OMWW are rich in antioxidant compounds that could be recovered from the matrix and employed in both preservative chemistry and, following appropriate trials to evaluate their safety and efficacy, as prophylactic agents in the prevention of certain radical-induced human diseases.