Aristoleo Awards 2022 Results Olive Oils

ARISTOLEO AWARDS 2022

HIGH PHENOLIC OLIVE OILS

Aristoleo Awards 2022 was established in 2016 in the ancient city of Olympia the site of the ancient Olympic games at the Olympic Academy.

Aristoleo Awards were designed to support the EU 432/2012 health claim for polyphenols. This health claim created a new type of olive oil within the extra virgin olive oil category. It finally brought transparency to the olive oil sector.

We discovered that polyphenols account for 99% of the immediate and measurable health benefits of olive oil. A minimum amount of polyphenols present was established: 5mg of polyphenols consumed in 20grams of olive oil daily.

There was vicious opposition by the industrialized olive oil industry against this health claim because it identified the source of the health benefits of olive oil. The question then became how to measure the minimum (250mg per 20gm) requirement of polyphenols?

The method used by the original Spanish research team was LC-MS/MS but it required pure standards of each phenolic compound and was rarely used. Disinterest for an accurate method by the IOC (International Olive Council) was used as a way to stall the implementation of the health claim.

We have also created the first temperature controlled display unit for high phenolic olive oils and high quality EVOOs. The Aristoleo Cooler

A much simpler analytical method was developed by a team of researchers at the Univ. of Athens led by Dr Prokopios Magiatis and Dr. Eleni Melliou. Using the qNMR (quantitative Nuclear Magnetic Resonance). This enabled analysis of olive oil samples in one pass without the need for pure standards or chemical reagents.

For the first time in history we had a window into the heart of olive oil itself. They were able to peel back layers of knowledge to uncover the source of the health benefits of olive oil, identify and measure them one by one.

NMR 700 Bruker

qNMR 700 by BRUKER

Here is the outdated HPLC method, darling of the olive oil industry led by the IOC. Careful not to trip over the cables or spill any of the reagents.

HPLC method favored by the corrupt IOC

The HPLC method favored by the IOC. Does not measure the polyphenols but uses tyrosol equivalents. It's an inaccurate method and unreliable for the 432/2012 health claim. The method needs to be coupled with the MS/MS to measure each phenolic compound and it would need the pure standards of each.