CONICET | Buscador de Institutos y Recursos Humanos

Virgin olive oil (VOO) is one of the basic components of the Mediterranean diet and its importance, due fundamentally to its nutritional and sensory characteristics, is currently known. The extraordinary properties of VOO derive from its content in hydrophilic phenolic compounds, which are only present in VOO and differentiate it from all the others vegetable oils used by humans. There are many published works related to the VOO properties as well as to its content in phenolic compounds. In the present chapter, a complete review of the most interesting aspects of VOO production and its nutritional properties is presented. On one hand, both the quantitative and qualitative composition of VOO in phenolic compounds is affected by the agronomical and technological aspects of production. The cultivar, the fruit ripeness, the climatic conditions and the agronomical techniques, such as irrigation, are the agronomical most influential factors and, as a consequence, more widely studied. Regarding the technological aspects of production, the presence of phenolic compounds in VOO is related to the activity of endogenous enzymes present in the olive fruit. Therefore, the extraction conditions, as well as the extraction system, greatly affect their concentration in VOO. On the other hand, phenolic compounds are considered as a very important part of the fruit defense chemical system. Diverse functions, such as its antimicrobial activity and its protection against the oxidative damages are attributed to these compounds. In addition, they are responsible for the VOO oxidation stability and for its sensory properties, and have been identified as the main components providing antioxidant properties to this food. Besides to the sensory properties and antioxidant activity, the current interest in phenolic compounds and VOO is based on their important nutritional and biological properties.

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