A Mediterranean ingredient for optimal health
• Antioxidant
• Antimicrobial
• Protects the heart
• Enhances the immune system

The health of the Mediterranean
Olives are a key part of Mediterranean diets, which are known for their health benefits and which are associated with a reduced risk of several types of diseases including cardiovascular disease and various types of cancer. The ingredients found in olive leaf extracts include flavonoids and phenolic compounds, and are associated with numerous health benefits.

Heart health and antimicrobial protection
Olive leaf extracts have many benefits for the heart. They have been shown to reduce blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels, to prevent clot formation by blocking the aggregation of platelets, and to lower cholesterol levels. These extracts are potent antioxidants and their actions help to prevent atherosclerosis by blocking lipid oxidation and by protecting blood vessel cells from damage. They also lower excessive levels of blood glucose by helping with insulin release and increasing glucose uptake. Olive leaf compounds have potent antimicrobial effects and fight against a variety of viruses and bacteria.

Effective extracts
The active ingredients in olive leaf extract have an impressive range of benefits for optimal health. AOR's Olive Leaf Extract provides the highest potency of the extract available.

The olive leaf (Olea europea) has been widely used by the Greeks and Romans since antiquity. In the early 1990s olive leaf extract was introduced as a dietary supplement for its antiviral and antibacterial activities.

The active constituents in olive leaves are secoridoids, such as: oleuropein, oleuroside, ligstroside. Other ingredients include flavonoids, apigenin, caffeic acids and triterpenes. Oleuropein, a bitter glucoside found in highest concentrations in the leaves, has been well researched. It is responsible for many of the biological effects of olive leaf extract, and is readily absorbed and bioavailable.

Pharmacological properties / Clinical applications

Heart health: Olive extracts have been found to lower blood pressure and prevent the oxidation of lipids and of low density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, which leads to plaque formation. The secoridoid and phenolic compounds protect blood vessel cells from damage. Another phenolic compound has been shown to inhibit platelet aggregation and block the production of an enzyme that causes this aggregation and causes blood vessels to constrict.

In rats, olive extracts normalized hypertension, lowered excessively high heart rates, lowered excessive blood glucose, inhibited atherosclerosis, and lowered total cholesterol.

Oleuropein possesses a vasodilator (blood vessel relaxing) effect. Moreover, a recent study has found that the aqueous extract of olive leaves inhibited the enzyme that produces angiotensin II, a potent vasoconstrictor.

Antioxidant activity: Caffeic acid and oleuropein were found to inhibit iron toxicity in rat liver cells by their antioxidant activity. The compounds of olive leaf extracts have been shown to be more potent antioxidants than BHT or vitamin E.

Hypoglycemic effect: Oleuropein has a hypoglycemic effect possibly due to the potentiation of glucose-induced insulin release and/or increased glucose uptake.
Immune regulation: Olive leaf extracts have anti-inflammatory effects, and are able to increase the functional activity of important immune cells known as macrophages.

1. Antibacterial: The extracts of olive leaf have potent antimicrobial activities against bacteria, fungi and mycoplasma. Oleuropein has been shown to inhibit growth of Staphylococcus and block its toxin production. Oleuropein also inhibits the growth of Bacillus cereus (which causes food poisoning), E. coli, and several other bacterial species.

2. Antiviral: Olive leaf extract eliminates viruses by interfering with certain amino acid production processes. The interference stops the virus from shedding, budding, or assembling at the cell membrane. Laboratory tests suggest that the compound has the ability to penetrate infected host cells and irreversibly inhibit viral replication. Oleuropein possesses antiviral activity against a number of viruses including parainfluenza 3, herpes, influenza A, polio and others.

AIDS patients have begun to use olive leaf extract to help strengthen their immune system, relieve chronic fatigue, boost the effects of anti-HIV medications and help with HIV-associated infections. In vitro studies have found that the compounds of olive leaf extracts inhibit acute HIV-infection and cell¬to-cell transmission, and block HIV replication, with no effect on uninfected target cells. The compounds have also been shown to reverse many of the changes in gene expression caused by HIV infection.