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2 Polyphenols as Bioactive Compounds in Foods and Food Supplements
IOC
International Olive Council
LDL
Low-density lipoprotein
Med Diet Mediterranean Diet
MW
Molecular weight
NDC
Non-communicable disease
OO
Olive oil
SDG
Sustainable Development Goal
USA
United States of America
2.1 Polyphenols and Their Relationship to Med Diet Health
Benefits
According to Almeida and colleagues, Ancel Keys—an American medical doctor
who travelled to Southern Europe after WWII—was the first to notice the so-called
Mediterranean Diet (Med Diet) dietary pattern, characterizing it and showing a
cause–effect relationship between such dietary habits and health benefits, in the
‘Seven Countries Study’, which was conducted from the middle 1950s to the late
1970s (Almeida et al. 2017). By that time, coronary deaths in the United States of
America (USA) and in the Northern Countries of Europe greatly exceeded those
in Southern Europe, mainly shown to be a consequence of dietary habits. The same
study also showed that cardiovascular risk factors in midlife were related to increased
risk of dementia later in life (Keys 1980).
Scientific research together with the official and competent authorities—the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the European Union (EU)—continues to surprise us with the benefits
of consumption and the adoption of Med Diet. Indeed, for fifty years, the scientific
data accumulate on the role of Med Diet confirming and clarifying its role in the
reduction of the incidence of certain pathologies related to oxidative stress, chronic
inflammation and immune system diseases (Casas et al. 2018) and even in preventing depression. In another word, mounting evidence, namely from epidemiological
studies, has been showing more and more Med Diet’s positive health outcomes in
the prevention and control of a variety of non-communicable diseases (NDC).
Phenols from Mediterranean foods contribute to such health outcomes. Phenolics
may be recommended as a useful strategy against allergens. They are also natural
antimicrobials (Parisi 2018) and may avoid some undesirable chemical reactions in
foods due to their scavenging ability; thus, their analytical determination in different
food matrices can be justifiable (Johnson et al. 2018; Parisi 2019–2020). Examples
of such potentially undesirable reactions in foods are the Maillard reaction (Parisi
2016; Parisi and Luo 2018a, b, c; Singla et al. 2018a, b, c, d, e) and the formation of
unsafe polymers and related compounds such as 2- and 3-monochloropropane-1,2diol esters and glycidyl esters (Kuhlmann et al. 2018), which may be mitigated by
phenolics (Oey et al. 2019).
2 Polyphenols as Bioactive Compounds in Foods and Food Supplements
IOC
International Olive Council
LDL
Low-density lipoprotein
Med Diet Mediterranean Diet
MW
Molecular weight
NDC
Non-communicable disease
OO
Olive oil
SDG
Sustainable Development Goal
USA
United States of America
2.1 Polyphenols and Their Relationship to Med Diet Health
Benefits
According to Almeida and colleagues, Ancel Keys—an American medical doctor
who travelled to Southern Europe after WWII—was the first to notice the so-called
Mediterranean Diet (Med Diet) dietary pattern, characterizing it and showing a
cause–effect relationship between such dietary habits and health benefits, in the
‘Seven Countries Study’, which was conducted from the middle 1950s to the late
1970s (Almeida et al. 2017). By that time, coronary deaths in the United States of
America (USA) and in the Northern Countries of Europe greatly exceeded those
in Southern Europe, mainly shown to be a consequence of dietary habits. The same
study also showed that cardiovascular risk factors in midlife were related to increased
risk of dementia later in life (Keys 1980).
Scientific research together with the official and competent authorities—the Food
and Drug Administration (FDA) in the USA and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) in the European Union (EU)—continues to surprise us with the benefits
of consumption and the adoption of Med Diet. Indeed, for fifty years, the scientific
data accumulate on the role of Med Diet confirming and clarifying its role in the
reduction of the incidence of certain pathologies related to oxidative stress, chronic
inflammation and immune system diseases (Casas et al. 2018) and even in preventing depression. In another word, mounting evidence, namely from epidemiological
studies, has been showing more and more Med Diet’s positive health outcomes in
the prevention and control of a variety of non-communicable diseases (NDC).
Phenols from Mediterranean foods contribute to such health outcomes. Phenolics
may be recommended as a useful strategy against allergens. They are also natural
antimicrobials (Parisi 2018) and may avoid some undesirable chemical reactions in
foods due to their scavenging ability; thus, their analytical determination in different
food matrices can be justifiable (Johnson et al. 2018; Parisi 2019–2020). Examples
of such potentially undesirable reactions in foods are the Maillard reaction (Parisi
2016; Parisi and Luo 2018a, b, c; Singla et al. 2018a, b, c, d, e) and the formation of
unsafe polymers and related compounds such as 2- and 3-monochloropropane-1,2diol esters and glycidyl esters (Kuhlmann et al. 2018), which may be mitigated by
phenolics (Oey et al. 2019).