May 6/Agriculture Week -- "Olive phenol extracts from waste from olive-oil production (alperujo) have been obtained by microwave-assisted extraction and used for edible oil enrichment," scientists in Cordoba, Spain, report.

"The extracts as such or after extractant removal were used to enrich edible oils of different fatty acid composition by liquid-liquid or solid-liquid extraction, respectively. The distribution ratios of the phenols in the different oils [olive-orujo (the waste of milled olives from which low-quality oil is obtained), sunflower, high oleic-acid content sunflower, coconut and linseed] showed a given order as a function of phenol polarity and molecular weight, with higher distribution factors for more polar and lower molecular-weight phenols," wrote M.V. Giron and colleagues, University of Cordoba.

The researchers concluded, "Concerning oil composition, those oils with higher concentration of polyunsaturated fatty acids yielded higher phenol distribution factors; oils with higher concentrations of saturated fatty acids yielded lower distribution factors."

Giron and colleagues published their study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry ("Dependence of Fatty-Acid Composition of Edible Oils on Their Enrichment in Olive Phenols." Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2009;57(7):2797-2802).

For additional information, contact M.V. Giron, University of Cordoba, Dept. of Analyt Chemical, Annex Marie Curie Bldg, Campus Rabanales, E-14071 Cordoba, Spain.

From the May 11, 2009, Prepared Foods E-dition