Apollo Olive Oil | Apollo Olive Oil

Health Benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

On Apollo Olive Oil in Particular

In 2004, Apollo Olive Oil became involved with Dr. Marco Mugelli, the president of the Tuscan Professional Olive Oil Tasters and head of a research group supported by the Florence Chamber of Commerce. Dr. Mugelli is a leading spokesman in the movement to advocate a new quality designation for olive oil one that would qualify and quantify the positive characteristics of Extra Virgin oils, and would therefore provide consumers with valuable information while avoiding the political factors and economic issues involved in the traditional use of the term Extra Virgin in the global marketplace.

After more than a decade of scientific research into the components of top quality Extra Virgin olive oils, and the factors influencing quality olive oil extraction, Dr. Mugelli invented and designed a method of milling under vacuum, which dramatically improves the extraction of polyphenols and provides much more quality control over the entire milling process. This new technology can produce excellent Extra Virgin olive oil with roughly triple the amounts of polyphenols, compared to conventional milling technologies. Only five such vacuum mills exist in the world, and Apollo Olive Oil was privileged to obtain one in 2005.

Relative Polyphenol Ranges New Technology

Since obtaining our new vacuum milling system and employing Dr. Mugelli’s techniques, Apollo Olive Oil has produced batches with as much as 700 ppm of polyphenols. The chart below shows the final polyphenol content of our 2006 oils, which are representative of our production every year. The tocopherol content (Vitamin E) is also shown as its anti-oxidant action in virgin olive oil is becoming increasingly evident.

According to the Italian national organization of olive oil tasters (Organizzazione Nazionale Assaggiatori Olive id Oliva, O.N.A.O.O., 2003), tocopherols normally range from about 150 – 250 ppm. Apollo Olive Oils are showing well above average.

More experimentation will solidify our understanding of the dynamics involved, but it is safe to say that Apollo Olive Oil is at the forefront of polyphenol extraction, and may be the healthiest olive oil you can find.

Olive oil polyphenols have been the recent subject of several encouraging scientific studies – several of which are cited here:

Weinbrenner T, Fito M, de la Torre R, et al.
Olive oils high in phenolic compounds modulate oxidative/antioxidative status in men.
J Nutr. 2004 Sep;134(9):2314-21. PMID: 15333722

This study on olive oils and oxidative stress was cited in articles of the Journal of Biochemistry, the Journal of Nutrition, and the Journal of American College of Cardiology.

Wiseman SA, Tijburg LB, van de Put FH.
Olive oil phenolics protect LDL and spare vitamin E in the hamster.
Lipids. 2002 Nov;37(11):1053-7. PMID: 12558055

“The results of this study support the idea that extra virgin olive oil phenols improve the antioxidant defense system in plasma by sparing the consumption of vitamin E under normal physiological circumstances.”

Read the abstract on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Marrugat J, Covas MI, Fito M, et al.
Effects of differing phenolic content in dietary olive oils on lipids and LDL oxidation—a randomized controlled trial.
Eur J Nutr. 2004 Jun;43(3):140-7. PMID: 15168036

Healthy volunteers participated in a randomized, double-blind, controlled crossover study. Subjects consumed three different extra-virgin olive oils with incrementally greater levels of polyphenols.

Read the abstract on at www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Bratisl Lek Listy.
Effects of dietary extra virgin olive oil on serum lipid resistance to oxidation and fatty acid composition in elderly lipidemic patients.
2003;104(7-8):218-21. PMID: 15168036

“In conclusion, the daily consumption of extra virgin olive oil in elderly lipidemic patients favourably affected serum lipoprotein spectrum and fatty acid composition…”

Read the abstract on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Owen RW, Giacosa A, Hull WE, Haubner R, Spiegelhalder B, Bartsch H.
The antioxidant/anticancer potential of phenolic compounds isolated from olive oil.
Eur J Cancer. 2000 Jun;36(10):1235-47. PMID: 10882862

“…the antioxidant phenolic compounds present in olive oil are potent inhibitors of free radical generation…”

Read the abstract on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Several scientific studies on tocopherols are also cited:

Psomiadou E, Tsimidou M, Boskou D.
Alpha-tocopherol content of Greek virgin olive oils.
J Agric Food Chem. 2000 May;48(5):1770-5. PMID: 10820093

Alpha-Tocopherol, the main tocopherol homologue found in olive oil, was determined in 90 Greek virgin olive oils. … Storage of samples under domestic conditions showed that good handling is quite important for retaining high alpha-tocopherol levels and for increasing, thus, the storage life and nutritional value.

Read the abstract on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Cunha SC, Amaral JS, Fernandes JO, Oliveira MB.
Quantification of tocopherols and tocotrienols in Portuguese olive oils using HPLC with three different detection systems
J Agric Food Chem. 2006 May 3;54(9):3351-6. PMID: 16637695

“Six different compounds of tocopherols and tocotrienols were quantified in 18 samples of Portuguese olive oils. Alpha-tocopherol (alpha-T) was the main vitamin E isomer in all samples ranging from 93 to 260 mg/kg. The total tocopherols and tocotrienols ranged from 100 to 270 mg/kg.”

Read the abstract on www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov