The power of the olive for modern food and beverages: Doehler launches olive leaf extract

06-Jun-2016 - Germany

Olives have always been valued by both consumers and the food industry for their healthy ingredients. The fruits are also known for their high oil content. This makes them high in calories – with around 340 kilocalories per 100 grams, black olives certainly pack in a lot of energy for a fruit.

But olives also contain vitamins, minerals and valuable secondary plant substances such as antioxidants, considered the olive tree's elixir of life. It is not only the olives themselves or the olive oil that contain these antioxidants – the olive leaves do too. Doehler now offers a high-quality olive leaf extract that has all the naturally healthy properties of the olive fruit with none of the calories. The natural extract of olive leaves has been used in skincare products and dietary supplements for many years, but remained relatively undiscovered for food and beverages. With its premium olive leaf extract, Doehler is now making the power of the olive tree accessible to the food and beverage industry, allowing the creation of a wide range of product applications – all calorie-free.

The olive leaf extract contains antioxidants in a highly-concentrated form, so that it only takes a small quantity of pure olive leaf extract to have an effect. Doehler's extract is standardised at 3% of the active hydroxytyrosol complex®. Hydroxytyrosol extracted from the olive leaf is currently regarded as the strongest plant-based antioxidant with ORAC values over 4,000,000 TE/100 g (TE = Trolox Equivalent). The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has approved a health claim for the polyphenols in olive oil from 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol and its derivatives (e.g. oleuropein complex and tyrosol) per 20 g of olive oil.¹

High-quality raw materials are used in the production of the olive leaf extract. It is extracted exclusively from the leaves of olive trees from monitored growing sites. The use of a gentle extraction process retains the original naturalness and 100% of the valuable ingredients.

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Various case studies have shown the numerous health-promoting and functional benefits of the olive polyphenols found in the hydroxytyrosol complex®. These results have been published in scientific journals:

Neutralisation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) during the metabolic process
Prevention of oxidation of LDL cholesterol (low density lipoprotein)
Support in protecting DNA from oxidation-related damage
Improvement of the body's own defences
Anti-inflammatory effect.

Health-related positionings for food, dietary supplements and especially beverages

Doehler's olive leaf extract is crystal clear, water soluble and, thanks to its temperature and acidity stability, ideally suited to beverages and many other foods. The health-promoting properties of the olive leaf make a wide variety of product positionings possible, ranging from low-cholesterol foods to “beauty” beverages and a wide range of dietary supplements, such as those intended to support mental health. In order to claim a health-promoting added value, especially in the EU, combining it with vitamins and minerals, for example, is recommended.

¹“Olive oil polyphenols contribute to the protection of blood lipids from oxidative stress.”

https://www.yumda.com/en/news/1148160/the-power-of-the-olive-for-modern-food-and-beverages-doehler-launches-olive-leaf-extract.html