November 28, 2015
Leonardo Olive Oil today launched its new variant, Olive Oil - Extra Light, at the ongoing New Delhi Palate Fest 2015, Nehru Park. To celebrate the launch and demonstrate the use of Olive Oil-Extra Light in day to day cooking, Leonardo olive oil hosted a Masterclass in association with Chef Kishi Arora. The event witnessed food enthusiasts who were keen to learn cooking using Leonardo Olive Oil - Extra Light.
Read MoreFebruary 10, 2014
Acquisition bolsters Cargill's consumer brand portfolio and expands market reach in India. Gurgaon, 10th February 2014: Cargill today announced the signing of an agreement with Dalmia Continental Pvt. Ltd (DCPL) to acquire its Leonardo Olive Oil business. Leonardo, the leading brand in the olive oil segment, is a pioneer in establishing the popularity and use of olive oil in India. Cargill has a strong presence in the olive oil segment worldwide, and this acquisition will create a unique opportunity for Cargill to participate and create value of this nascent and high-growth category in India. This acquisition helps Cargill consolidate its position in the premium oils segment.
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LONDON: Regular consumption of olive oil can drastically improve heart health and reduce the risk of cardiac diseases, according to a new study.
Researchers at the Universities of Glasgow and Lisbon and Mosaiques Diagnostics in Germany teamed-up to study the effect of olive oil, a Mediterranean diet staple, on heart health in a group of non-consumers.
The study, published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, was set up to examine the effect of phenolics, natural compounds found in plants, including olives, on heart health.
Phenolics, along with monounsaturated fatty acids, are thought by the Federal Drug Administration in the US and European Food Safety Authority to be responsible for the protective effect of olive oil.
The researchers recruited 69 healthy volunteers who were split into two groups and asked to consume 20ml of olive oil either low or high in phenolics every day over a six-week period.
A particular feature of the study was the target group studied: healthy individuals who did not regularly consume olive oil.
The research team applied a new diagnostic technology to study the impact of the oil supplements on health: urine samples were examined for a range of peptides (produced by the breakdown of proteins) already identified as indicators or bio markers of diseases such as coronary artery disease (CAD), chronic kidney disease (CKD) and diabetes.
The results showed that both groups saw a big improvement in scores for CAD - the most common form of heart disease.
Dr Emilie Combet of the School of Medicine at the University of Glasgow, said: "What we found was that regardless of the phenolic content of the oil, there was a positive effect on CAD scores.
"In the population studied, any olive oil, low or high in phenolics, seems to be beneficial. The fatty acids are probably the main contributors to the observed effect," she said.
"Our study was a supplementation study. If people in the UK replaced part of their fat intake with olive oil, it could have an ever greater effect on reducing the risk of heart disease," Combet said.
"The proteomic strategy is very powerful in detecting changes in health before symptoms appear. It is the first time this technique has been applied from a nutritional perspective to try to get to the bottom of which food or what ingredient is truly responsible for health benefits," Combet added.
The researchers deep- and pan-fried raw potato pieces in four different refined oils - olive, corn, soybean and sunflower - and reused the oil 10 times.
Love fried food? Try olive oil as it withstands the heat of the fryer or pan better than several other seed oils to yield healthier food.
The researchers deep- and pan-fried raw potato pieces in four different refined oils – olive, corn, soybean and sunflower – and reused the oil 10 times.
They found that olive oil was the most stable oil for deep-frying at 320 and 374 degrees Fahrenheit, while sunflower oil degraded the fastest when pan-fried at 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
"For frying foods, olive oil maintains quality and nutrition better than seed oils," said lead researcher Mohamed Bouaziz.
Different oils have a range of physical, chemical and nutritional properties that can degrade when heated.
Some of these changes can lead to the formation of new compounds that are potentially toxic.
By-products of heating oil can also lower the nutritional value of the food being fried.
The study was reported in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
A Mediterranean diet that combines unsaturated fats with nitrite-rich vegetables, such as olive oil and lettuce, can protect you from hypertension, a new study suggests.
The findings led by King's College London help to explain why some previous studies have shown that a Mediterranean diet can reduce blood pressure.
Such a diet typically includes unsaturated fats found in olive oil, nuts and avocados, along with vegetables like spinach, celery and carrots that are rich in nitrites and nitrates.
When these two food groups are combined, the reaction of unsaturated fatty acids with nitrogen compounds in the vegetables results in the formation of nitro fatty acids.
The study, supported by the British Heart Foundation, used mice to investigate the process by which these nitro fatty acids lower blood pressure, looking at whether they inhibited an enzyme known as soluble Epoxide Hydrolase which regulates blood pressure.
Mice genetically engineered to be resistant to this inhibitory process were found to maintain their high blood pressure despite being fed the type of nitro fatty acids that normally form when a Mediterranean diet is consumed.
However, nitro fatty acids were found to lower the blood pressure of normal mice following the same diets.
The study concludes that the protective effect of the Mediterranean diet, combining unsaturated fats and vegetables abundant in nitrite and nitrate, comes at least in part from the nitro fatty acids generated which inhibit soluble Epoxide Hydrolase to lower blood pressure.
"The findings of our study help to explain why previous research has shown that a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra-virgin olive oil or nuts can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular problems like stroke, heart failure and heart attacks," Philip Eaton, Professor of Cardiovascular Biochemistry at King's College London, said.
The olive market has shown significant growth in recent years in both Tier I and II cities in India. The domestic market has grown from 1,000 tonnes in 2003 to 12,000 tonnes in 2013, according to estimates by the Indian Olive Association. "For a market that consumes about 12 million tonnes of edible oils, olive oil's share works out to just 0.1 per cent. The edible olive oil market has been growing at 45-50 per cent over the last five years, with significant growth in Tier II markets. We're seeing a lot of traction in Tier-II cities with growth doubling year-on-year," stated Rajneesh Bhasin, president, Indian Olive Association and managing director, Borges India.
Borges India commands a 35-50 per cent market share at present. "Our innovations like the 'extra light' olive oil sub-category, a refined variant, introduced in 2010, has helped us win a considerable consumer share. Initially, the product category was around 3,000 tonnes in India predominantly driven by the massage oil, but over the years, the category has grown to 11,000 tonnes, with a major shift, almost 70 per cent, being edible olive oil," he said. Believing Borges India to be a market leader in the edible olive oil space in the country today, Bhasin is confident to take it to 40 to 50,000 tonnes in the next five years. "The product category has been growing at a CAGR of 30-40 per cent so far. Even if the market maintains a minimum 25 per cent CAGR growth, we will be able to achieve the targeted growth. We are aiming to increase the consumption by at least one per cent in the next decade," he replied. He also informed that Borges India is set for a Rs 100 crore turnover by 2015.
Commenting on the initiatives taken by the Indian Olive Association, Bhasin stated, "Due to the persistent lobbying efforts of the Indian Olive Association, the duty on extra virgin olive oil has come down from 450 per cent few years back to 0-two per cent and of refined olive oils to seven-eight per cent. Presently, table olives are at a disadvantage because of higher duty, and the association is working on it as well." Established in 1896, Borges Mediterranean Group is into all the key Mediterranean food categories with subsidiaries in eight countries. Borges India, established in 2009, is a fully owned subsidiary of Borges Mediterranean Group.
Olive oil, which is rich in monounsaturated fatty acids, is a major component of the Mediterranean diet. Populations from that region have longer life expectancies and lower risks of heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke, compared with North Americans and Northern Europeans.
Monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs) are considered a healthy dietary fat, as opposed to saturated fats and trans fats.
This MNT Knowledge Center feature is part of a collection of articles on the health benefits of popular foods.
Olive oil is a fat obtained from the fruit of the Olea europaea (olive tree), a traditional tree crop of the Mediterranean region, where whole olives are pressed to produce olive oil.
The oil is used in cosmetics, medicine, cooking and soaps, and was also used as a fuel for traditional lamps. Although originating in the Mediterranean countries, today it is used worldwide.
Greece has the highest olive oil intake per person in the world. Greeks consume, on average, 24 liters per-person-per-year, according to the North American Olive Oil Association1. Spaniards and Italians consume about 15 and 13 liters-per-person-per year, respectively.
Over the last 50 years, there have been thousands of studies examining the health benefits of olive oil. Below are some examples:
Olive oil is the main source of dietary fat in the Mediterranean diet, which is associated with a low death rate from cardiovascular diseases compared to other parts of the world.
Maria-Isabel Covas, at the Parc de Recerca Biomèdica de Barcelona, Spain, carried out an extensive review of studies that had focused on the biological and clinical effects of olive oil.
The study was published in the journal Pharmacological Research 2.
The study found that people who regularly consume olive oil are much less likely to develop cardiovascular diseases, including hypertension (stroke, and hyperlipidemia (high blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels).
Covas also found that regular olive oil intake helps reduce inflammation, endothelial dysfunction (problems with the inner linings of blood vessels), thrombosis and carbohydrate metabolism.
Covas concluded "The wide range of *anti-atherogenic effects associated with olive oil consumption could contribute to explain the low rate of cardiovascular mortality found in Southern European Mediterranean countries, in comparison with other western countries, despite a high prevalence of coronary heart disease risk factors."
*Anti-atherogenic means preventing the hardening of the arteries and the development of atherosclerosis.
People who regularly eat foods fried in olive oil do not have a higher risk of heart disease or premature death, researchers at the Autonomous University of Madrid in Spain reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal).
In this study, Professor Pilar Guallar-Castillón and colleagues surveyed 40,757 adults aged from 26 to 69 years over an 11-year period. They focused on the people's cooking methods and dietary habits. None of the participants had heart disease when the study started.
The team defined fried meals as food that had only been prepared by frying it. Participants were also asked whether their fried food was sautéed, battered or crumbed.
The researchers concluded:
"In a Mediterranean country where olive and sunflower oils are the most commonly used fats for frying, and where large amounts of fried foods are consumed both at and away from home, no association was observed between fried food consumption and the risk of coronary heart disease or death."
Dr. Cécilia Samieri, from the University of Bordeaux and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Bordeaux, France, and colleagues reported in the journal Neurology that olive oil may prevent strokes in older people.
The team found that older people who regularly used olive oil for cooking and salad dressing or with bread had a 41% lower risk of stroke, compared with their counterparts who never consumed it.
Dr. Samieri said, "Stroke is so common in older people and olive oil would be an inexpensive and easy way to help prevent it."
People whose diets are high in trans fats - fast foods and mass-produced foods like pastries - may have a higher risk of depression, compared with those whose diets are rich in mono- and polyunsaturated fats.
According to a study carried out at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain and published in PLoS ONE, olive oil appears to have a slight protective effect regarding depression risk.
Dr. Almudena Sánchez-Villegas and colleagues added that their findings stood even after taking into account people's overall diet, physical activity and lifestyle.
The research team gathered and analyzed data on 12,000 volunteers over a period of 6 years. Their average age at the start of the study was 37.5 years. They had all regularly completed a 136-item questionnaire which had information on their dietary habits, lifestyle, and physical and mental health.
The investigators counted the number of people with depression at the start of the study and then again during each follow-up. Cases of depression had to be those clinically diagnosed by a doctor.
The study authors found that when they compared the volunteers who consumed trans fats regularly with individuals whose dietary fat consisted primarily of olive oil, the trans fat consumers had a 48% higher risk of developing depression.
The amount of trans fat consumed was directly related to depression risk - the more they ate, the higher the risk.
A team of scientists at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona in Spain found a key mechanism by which virgin olive oil protects the body against breast cancer, in contrast to other vegetable oils.
The researchers decoded a complete cascade of signals within the cells of breast tumors that are activated by virgin olive oil. They concluded that the oil reduces the activity of p21Ras, an oncogene, prevents DNA damage, encourages tumor cell death, and triggers changes in protein signaling pathways.
The team found that while corn oil - which is rich in n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids - increased the aggressiveness of tumors, virgin olive oil had the opposite effect.
They demonstrated that virgin olive oil is linked to a higher incidence of benign (non-cancerous) breast tumors.
A Japanese study published in the Medical Science Monitor3 showed that LDL-cholesterol mean concentrations were lowered in 28 outpatients who were given olive oil supplements once a day for six weeks.
LDL (low density lipoprotein) is often referred to as "bad cholesterol". The "good cholesterol" is called HDL (high density lipoprotein).
The study authors concluded "These results point to an overwhelmingly beneficial influence of olive oil on the lipoprotein spectrum."
Oleocanthal is a type of natural phenolic compound found in extra-virgin olive oil. In laboratory experiments with mice, researchers discovered that oleocanthal helps shuttle the abnormal Alzheimer's disease proteins out of the brain.
As background information, the researchers explained that Alzheimer's disease rates are lower in Mediterranean countries, where consumption of olive oil is higher than anywhere else in the world.
Amal Kaddoumi and team set out to determine whether oleocanthal might help reduce the accumulation of beta-amyloid, believed to be the culprit of Alzheimer's disease (AD).
Their study was published in the journal Chemical Neuroscience.
The team tracked the effects of oleocanthal in the cultured brain cells and brains of laboratory mice.
They found that in both cultured brain cells and the mice's brains themselves oleocanthal consistently boosted the production of two proteins and key enzymes known to be vital in the removal of beta-amyloid from the brain.
The study authors concluded "Extra-virgin olive oil-derived oleocanthal associated with the consumption of Mediterranean diet has the potential to reduce the risk of AD or related neurodegenerative dementias."
Extra virgin olive oil is rich in oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol, which affect the development of acute pancreatitis (sudden inflammation of the pancreas).
Researchers at the University of Granada in Spain carried out an in vitro experiment which found that the components of extra virgin olive oil can protect from acute pancreatitis.
Head researcher, María Belén López Millán said that "there is increasing evidence that there are oxidative-inflammatory processes involved in the origin of chronic diseases and that diet plays an important role in such processes."
Investigators at the University of Monastir, Tunisia, and King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, carried out a study demonstrating that extra virgin olive oil may protect the liver from oxidative stress.
Oxidative stress refers to cell damage associated with the chemical reaction between free radicals and other molecules in the body. Put simply, oxidative stress means cell damage.
In this study, which was published in BioMed Central, Mohamed Hammami and colleagues reported that laboratory rats exposed to a moderately toxic herbicide that were fed on a diet containing olive oil were partially protected from liver damage.
Hammami said "Olive oil is an integral ingredient in the Mediterranean diet. There is growing evidence that it may have great health benefits including the reduction in coronary heart disease risk, the prevention of some cancers and the modification of immune and inflammatory responses. Here, we've shown that extra virgin olive oil and its extracts protect against oxidative damage of hepatic tissue".
Ulcerative colitis, a fairly common long-term (chronic) disorder, is a disease that causes inflammation of the large intestine (colon). It is a type of inflammatory bowel disease that is similar to Crohn's disease, a related disorder.
Scientists at the University of East Anglia in England say that consuming more olive oil could help fend off ulcerative colitis.
Dr Andrew Hart and team gathered and analyzed data on more than 25,000 people living in Norfolk, England. They were aged between 40 and 65 years. The volunteers were part of the EPIC study (European Prospective Investigation into Diet and Cancer), spanning from 1993 to 1997. None of them had ulcerative colitis at the start of the study.
The participants regularly completed questionnaires and kept detailed food diaries, which included information on their overall health and consumption of fats.
In a 2004 follow up, the researchers compared the diets of those who had developed ulcerative colitis with those who had not.
They discovered that the participants with the highest intake of oleic acid - a component of olive oil - had a 90% lower risk of developing ulcerative colitis compared to those with the lowest intake.
Dr. Hart said "Oleic acid seems to help prevent the development of ulcerative colitis by blocking chemicals in the bowel that aggravate the inflammation found in this illness. We estimate that around half of the cases of ulcerative colitis could be prevented if larger amounts of oleic acid were consumed. Two-to-three tablespoons of olive oil per day would have a protective effect."
Olive oil is obtained fromThe U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is not a member of the International Olive Council, so their retail grades have no legal meaning in the U.S. Terms such as "extra virgin" may be used without legal limitations.
However, as of October 2010, The U.S. Standards for Grades of Olive Oil and Olive-Pomace Oil4 went into effect. The USDA's grading of olive oil is based on flavor, odor, absence of defects and acidity:
These grades are voluntary.
In many countries, including the USA, "light" or "extra light" olive oils are processed with heat and chemicals to take out impurities. The color and flavor is lighter, compared to virgin olive oils. Light olive oil is sometimes blended with other oils.
