a Department of Agricultural and Food Science, Federico II University of Naples , Portici , NA , Italy.
Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr. 2015;55(13):1808-18. doi: 10.1080/10408398.2012.708685.
Virgin olive oil (VOO) is the pillar fat of Mediterranean diet. It is made from olive fruits and obtained by squeezing olives without any solvent extraction. Respect to the seed oils, an unique polar polyphenol-rich fraction gives VOO a bitter and pungent taste. The recent substantiation by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of a health claim for VOO polyphenols may represent an efficient stimulus to get the maximum health benefit from one of the most valuable traditional product of Mediterranean countries educating consumers to the relationship between the VOO bitterness and its health effect. Agronomical practices and new processing technology to avoid phenolic oxidation and hydrolysis and to enhance the aromatic components of the VOO have been developed and they can be used to modulate taste and flavor to diversify the products on the market. VOOs having high concentration of phenol compounds are bitter and pungent therefore many people do not consume them, thus loosing the health benefits related to their intake. In this paper, the chemist's and nutritionist's point of view has been considered to address possible strategies to overcome the existing gap between the quality perceived by consumer and that established by expert tasters. Educational campaigns emphasizing the bitter-health link for olive oils should be developed.
特级初榨橄榄油（VOO）是地中海饮食的主要脂肪来源。它由橄榄果实制成，通过压榨橄榄而不使用任何溶剂提取获得。与籽油相比，特级初榨橄榄油中独特的富含极性多酚的部分赋予其苦涩辛辣的味道。最近，欧洲食品安全局（EFSA）对 VOO 多酚的健康声称进行了证实，这可能是从地中海国家最有价值的传统产品之一中获得最大健康益处的有效刺激，教育消费者了解 VOO 苦味与其健康效应之间的关系。为了避免酚类氧化和水解，并增强 VOO 的芳香成分，已经开发出了农业实践和新的加工技术，可用于调节味道和风味，使市场上的产品多样化。VOO 中含有高浓度的酚类化合物，因此味道苦涩辛辣，许多人不食用它们，从而失去了与其摄入相关的健康益处。本文从化学家的角度和营养学家的角度考虑了可能的策略，以克服消费者感知的质量和专家品尝者确定的质量之间存在的差距。应该开展强调橄榄油苦味与健康之间联系的教育活动。
