HAYWARD, Calif., April 26, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- A recent study by Spanish researchers about the healthy benefits of olive oil has propelled the Mediterranean Diet once again at the center of the debate about healthy lifestyles and natural living.
A multi-center, multi-year (5 years), randomized study supported by the official funding agency for biomedical research of the Spanish government and involving 7774 subjects, the PREDIMED Trial (Prevención con Dieta Mediterrànea) has found that about 30 percent of strokes and deaths from heart disease could be prevented if high risk subjects switched to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, and other traditional foods from that region. The finding was so startling, and so definitive, that the study was concluded ahead of schedule because results indicating benefits were irrefutable.
This isn't the first time that a European multi-year, multi-center study confirms the powerful healing power of the Mediterranean Diet and extra virgin olive oil. In 2006 the Annals of Internal medicine published the results of the Eurolive Study (The Effect of Olive Oil on Oxidative Damage in European Populations), a research conducted by the Institut Municipal d'Investigacions Medica (IMM) proving that the protective action exerted by olive oil against oxidative stress associated diseases such as cardiovascular diseases, cancer and neurodegenerative disease, is due for the greater part to the polyphenols present in olive oil. Polyphenols are compounds of vegetal origin that when ingested through the diet have shown to provide antioxidant protection and other health benefits to those who ingest them. In 2011 the results of the Eurolive Study were assumed as supporting evidence by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to allow medical claims for cardiovascular protection to be conferred to polyphenols derived from the Olea europaea tree and to those contained in extra virgin olive oil.
However while the media and institutional researchers have been focusing on the polyphenols contained in the oil, reality is that these compounds are only minimally present in the oily fraction of the olive. Due to their hydrophilic nature in fact olive polyphenols are present in a much greater concentration (up to 300 times more) in the aqueous fraction or juice (about 50 percent of the fruit) of the olive than in the oil.
It was CreAgri, Inc. that in 1999, working on a method to obtain a sweeter and rounder olive oil with increased health benefits, developed a process—The Integrale®--to harvest these polyphenols from the juice of organic olives on an industrial scale quantity.
Hidrox®, a patented liquid and freeze dried formulation of olive polyphenols resulting from this production method, was first introduced to the market by CreAgri the same year. In 2001, further developing Hidrox®, CreAgri introduced Olivenol, the first dietary supplement in the world featuring hydroxytyrosol at a concentration of 5 mg per capsule. In 2003, already affirmed on the market as a leading nutritional ingredient with a strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory profile, Hidrox® was adopted for the creation of a new plethora of consumer products meant to provide support and help in a varied number of health conditions. And not only that, Creagri was also able to ascertain that Hydroxytyrosol, because it exerts the highest anti-inflammatory activity among the bioactive nutrients contained in the fruit of the olive, is the molecule at the core of the positive health outcome of the Mediterranean Diet.
The first evidence of the cardioprotective attributes of HIDROX® emerged in 2003-4 from an open study conducted at the Tokyo Cardiovascular Institute by the late Professor Fujio Numano, a world authority in cardiovascular health and inflammation of the blood vessels. Prof. Numano discovered also that to exert these healthy effects a daily intake of 5mg of polyphenol, and hydroxytyrosol, was necessary. This minimum daily dosage will be successively confirmed in 2011 by EFSA. The anti-inflammatory impact of Hidrox was confirmed in a successive clinical study conducted at the Arizona State University. In that study HIDROX® was offered to patients suffering from Osteo and Rheumatoid Arthritis. The double blinded, placebo controlled study found that HIDROX® caused a significant decrease in serum homocysteine and CRP. Homocysteine is a recognized risk factor in the early development of heart and blood vessel inflammatory disease.
"Our novel process to obtain formulation rich in hydroxytyrosol and other native polyphenols directly from the juice of olives, a byproduct discarded by the industry as wastewater, has revolutionized both the olive oil and health and wellness industry," declares Dr. Roberto Crea, the Founder of CreAgri, Inc. and the inventor of the Integrale process. "One can get a lot more hydroxytyrosol and polyphenols from the juice and the products we developed in powder form, without needing to source olive oil. No fats, no calories, no search for polyphenols-rich Extra Virgin Olive oil, a rarity in the marketplace even in Mediterranean countries. The content of one capsule gives the consumer the hydroxytyrosol contained in 16 Oz of the best extra-virgin oil available on the market today."
CreAgri has pioneered numerous applications in the dietary supplement market, and now in the beverage and food industry, and continues to lead in science driven applications where chronic inflammation is the underlying cause of many health problems.
"The science is coming all together for hydroxytyrosol and HIDROX®," continues Paolo Pontoniere, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. "The discovery by CreAgri and other laboratories around the world that hydroxytyrosol can modulate the NFkB pathway, one of the most important cellular inflammatory cascade, is opening the doors to a slew of new clinical investigations for HIDROX® and hydroxytyrosol, including neurodegenerative diseases and cancer."
About CreAgri
CreAgri Inc., a California company, is the inventor and developer of HIDROX®. Its goal is to promote health and wellness by creating superior natural products that strike a Creative Balance Between Nature and Technology®. The company develops science-based processes that are environmentally friendly and compatible with sustainable agricultural methods.
For further information about CreAgri and HIDROX®, please visit www.creagri.com.