The importance of polyphenols in olive oil

Polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil make this product vital for your diet. A healthy diet can’t exist without counting on extra virgin olive oil because the polyphenols it contains have an endless list of positive effects on your health.

In this post, we’ve decided to tell you all you wanted to know about polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil.

What are polyphenols?

Polyphenols are chemical compounds to be found in the majority of foods of vegetable origin.

You can find polyphenols in olive oil but also in wine, in beer, in tea or in cholcolate.

They’re also responsible for the smells and aromas in foods and stand out for being natural antioxidants.

Polyphenols in olive oil

If we limit ourselves to speaking about olive oil only, the quantity can vary depending on the oil you consume.

The quantity of polyphenols is at its highest just before the olive starts to change colour, that is to say, in olives which are still green.

At Masía El Altet, we pick all of our olives before they’ve started to change colour.  For that reason, we can say that the quantity of polyphenols you’ll find in our bottles is at its highest.

The higher the level of polyphenols, the greater the benefit for your health and that of your loved ones.

Another influential factor is the variety of olive.

Picual and Changlot Real are those which produce most polyphenols, varieties which you’ll find in all of our extra virgin olive oils, in our High Quality as well as in our Premium, Special Selection and above all in our High End, which is made from one hundred per cent Picual.

Every year our extra virgin oils are analysed to see their characteristics. This year, 2020, the quantity of polyphenols is the following:

• Masía el Altet High Quality 476mg/Kg
• Masía el Altet Premium 439mg/Kg
• Masía el Altet Special Selection 582mg/kg
• Masía el Altet High End 612mg/kg

How to detect polyphenols in olive oil

How can you discover if the olive oils contain a quantity suitable to provide benefits for your health? Now, we’re going to give you some advice so that you can check for yourself.

1. If you buy refined oils, you’ll lose these nutrients simply due to the fact that the oil is refined. This process is a mixture of various oils in order to eliminate defects. Extra virgin olive oil is the authentic juice of the olive.
2. It’s also a good idea to buy oils from an early harvest like those we produce at Masía El Altet.  If they’re from an early harvest, they’re a greener colour.  Blended oils are a golden colour.
3. Another fact to bear in mind is that the taste has to be a little bitter and it has to leave a slight tickle in your throat. This bitter taste is intrinsic to polyphenols.
4. It’s always better to consume the extra virgin olive oil the same year as the olives were harvested. If you go past the date, you can still consume it but accepting the fact that some of its characteristics will have been lost.  Olive oil hasn’t got a shelf life but from Masía El Altet, we always recommend that our extra virgin olive oils should be consumed before the best before date.
5. Always consult the labels. Information about the quantity of polyphenols in the olive oil should be found there.

The benefits of polyphenols in olive oil

As we’ve said throughout this post, polyphenols in olive oil have numerous  beneficial properties for your health.  Now, we’re going to look at them in more detail.

Antioxidants

Antioxidants are what are responsible for putting a brake on premature ageing, above all where the skin is concerned. They have a great effect, expecially on the cutis and for that reason, you’ll see that polyphenols are also to be found in many cosmetics. Polyphenols contain collagen and elastine, which are responsible for the skin staying smooth.

Anti-inflammatories

They contain anti-inflammatory properties which are in charge of protecting the immune system and are capable of preventing a good number of viruses. Another fact is that they are capable of naturally generating Vitamin C, a vitamin which is necessary in helping you not to develop illnesses.

Good for the heart

It has been widely demonstrated that they reduce the possiblilty of developing heart-related diseases.  Polyphenols in olive oil also help reduce cholesterol.  To be more precise, they increase levels of good cholesterol and destroy the bad type.

Better digestion

Since there is a considerable presence of fibre in polyohenols, it regulates bowel movement and prevents constipation.

It wards off diabetes

This is a logical consequence since as we said in the section related to the heart, it helps to regulate cholesterol which in turn means the risk of diabetes is reduced.

A source of minerals and vitamin A

Above all, sodium and iron, imperative for our health.

There are many scientific studies which have demonstrated the importance of the polyphenols to be found in many foods and particularly present in extra virgin olive oil.

Now, something else to bear in mind. We’ve already seen that in order to get maximum benefit, you have to choose oils which are produced from early olives, before they begin to change colour.

Green olives are the ones that contain the highest quantity of polyphenols. It’s obvious that you won’t find the same quantity of this important substance in a virgin extra produced at Masía El Altet as in those so called blended oils.

In this post, we’ve also given you some clues to help you recognize if an oil contains polyphenols or not.

And last but not least, we’ve provided you with a list of all of the benefits of polyphenols in olive oil.

Were you aware of the importance of polyphenols in olive oil?  Do you choose your olive oil according to the quantity of polyphenols?  Let us know your opinion.

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