Virgin olive oil belongs to the most popular food ingredients thanks to its excellent organoleptic and nutritional properties. Olive oil is a rich source of powerful natural antioxidants from the family of phenolic compounds. It contains both lipophilic and hydrophilic phenols. While lipophilic phenols such as tocopherols can also be found in other vegetable oils, most of the hydrophilic phenols in olive oil are endemic to Olea europaea species.

In their extensive two-part review, Milad El Riachy, Universidad de Córdoba, Spain, and colleagues cover the essential knowledge concerning the phenolic compounds of virgin olive oil. The antioxidant profile including phenolic acids and alcohols, hydroxy-isochromans, flavonoids, secoiridoids, lignans and pigments, the analytical methods for determination of these compounds, and the effects of the hydrophilic phenols on the olive oils stability are topics covered in Part I.

Part II is devoted to the biosynthesis of the phenolic fraction of olive fruits during ripening, and the transformations occurring during virgin olive oil extraction. In addition, the influence of agronomical factors including the genetic factors and breeding, cultivation, and climate on the phenolic profile is discussed.

^{© National Cancer Institute Author: Renee Comet (photographer)}

^{AV Number: AV-9400-4150 Date Created: 1994}

• Hydrophilic antioxidants of virgin olive oil. Part 1: Hydrophilic phenols: A key factor for virgin olive oil quality,
  Milad El Riachy et al.,
  Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 2011, 113.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.201000400
• Biosynthesis and biotransformation of phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil as affected by agronomic and processing factors,
  Milad El Riachy et al.,
  Eur. J. Lipid Sci. Technol. 2011, 113.
  DOI: 10.1002/ejlt.201100096