In Lisbon, Portugal, participants in the second World Olive Oil Congress prepared the Lisbon Manifesto, calling on governments to treat extra virgin olive oil as a public health resource. The document was supported by more than 60 organizations from 18 countries, according to an op-ed in Cyprus Mail.
The manifesto proposes including quantitative recommendations on olive oil consumption in national dietary guidelines, using it in hospitals and school cafeterias, and indicating polyphenol content on labels. Congress participants plan to submit the text to the World Health Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Pan American Health Organization.
Research and polyphenols
Column author Nicholas Netien notes that the manifesto’s signatories refer to the PREDIMED study involving 7,447 people at high cardiovascular risk. According to the data cited in the article, the combined number of heart attacks, strokes, and deaths from cardiovascular disease was 31% lower in the group that received extra virgin olive oil than in the control group following a low-fat diet.
Netien writes that the manifesto links the potential benefits not only to the fats in olive oil, but above all to polyphenols. According to the EUROLIVE study he cites, in 200 men, HDL cholesterol levels increased and oxidative lipid damage decreased in proportion to the polyphenol content of the oil.
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The author also cites the results of a Harvard team’s observation of 92,383 adults in the United States over 28 years. He claims that people who consumed at least seven grams of olive oil per day had a 28% lower risk of death from dementia. At the same time, Netien notes that some research in this field is still at an early stage.
Proposals for Cyprus
The author claims that Cypriot olive oil may stand out for its high polyphenol content due to the climate, the characteristics of local olive trees, water scarcity, and early harvesting of the fruit. According to him, the 2018 Cypriot harvest set a world record for polyphenol concentration.
Netien proposes that Cyprus’s ministries of agriculture and health join the manifesto and support standardized labeling of polyphenol content. He believes that the label should state the analysis method, the date it was conducted, and the harvest year, since polyphenols degrade under the effects of heat, light, and oxygen.
The column shows signs of a conflict of interest: Nicholas Netien is the co-founder and chief scientist of Oleaphen, a Cypriot producer of olive oil with a high polyphenol content.
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