Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) Polyphenols: Ligstroside Aglycone

How polyphenols in the best olive oil like Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil can help combat osteoarthritis – further health benefits.

^{Updated May 23rd 2023}

Summary

• Polyphenol Ligstroside-Aglycone (LA) found in Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is synonymous with p-HPEA-Elenolic acid and is a member of the Tyrosol family of polyphenols.
• This polyphenol has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects by controlling and downregulating the type of DNA that is thought to play a pivotal role in the initiation of osteoarthritis and the perpetuation of chronic inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis.
• Osteoarthritis (OA) is a form of arthritis that features the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints. OA occurs more frequently as we age.
• Osteoarthritis is currently, the most frequent cause of pain, deformity and dysfunction in the elderly. To date, there is no definitive cure for this debilitating disease.
• As an alternative approaches, the use of polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil were examined to see if this may reverse the catabolic activity that contributes to cartilage destruction in OA.
• Acetylated ligstroside showed the most promising results and substantiate the role of polyphenols in treating OA.
• Recently, data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) have demonstrated that adherence to the Mediterranean diet, including best olive oil like Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is associated not only with better quality of life but also, significantly, with a lower prevalence of OA.

Contents:

• Polyphenol : Ligstroside-Aglycone (LA)
• What Is Osteoarthritis And How Do Polyphenols In Extra Virgin Olive Oil Help?
• What Causes Primary Osteoarthritis?
• Secondary Osteoarthritis
• A Study Of Polyphenol Ligstroside-Aglycone In Treatment Of Osteoarthritis
• The Results

Polyphenol : Ligstroside-Aglycone (LA)

This polyphenol is synonymous with p-HPEA-Elenolic acid. It is a member of the Tyrosol family of polyphenols and has the chemical formula : C₁₉H₂₂O₇

While information on LA bioactivity is limited, a few years ago, LA was demonstrated to behave as an antioxidant. Furthermore, LA has been shown to have anti-inflammatory effects by controlling and downregulating NF-κB (NF-kB is a type of DNA that is thought to play a pivotal role in the initiation of osteoarthritis and the perpetuation of chronic inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis) as well as the potential to induce a caloric restriction-like state that affects the muscle, brain, fat tissue and kidney, particularly through activation and increased levels of sirtuins. (Sirtuins are a family of proteins that regulate cellular health. They play a key role in regulating cellular homeostasis, keeping cells in balance).

What Is Osteoarthritis And How Do Polyphenols In Extra Virgin Olive Oil Help?

Osteoarthritis (OA) is a form of arthritis that features the breakdown and eventual loss of the cartilage of one or more joints. Cartilage is a protein substance that serves as a “cushion” between the bones of the joints. Among the over 100 different types of arthritis conditions, osteoarthritis is the most common joint disease.

OA occurs more frequently as we age. Before age 45, osteoarthritis occurs more frequently in males. After 55 years of age, it occurs more frequently in females. In the United States, all races appear equally affected. Hand osteoarthritis, hip osteoarthritis, and knee osteoarthritis are much more common in seniors than younger people. A higher incidence of osteoarthritis exists in the Japanese population, while South-African blacks, East Indians, and Southern Chinese have lower rates.

Osteoarthritis commonly affects the hands, feet, spine, and large weight-bearing joints, such as the hips and knees. Osteoarthritis usually has no known cause and is referred to as primary osteoarthritis. When the cause of the osteoarthritis is known, the condition is referred to as secondary OA.

What Causes Primary Osteoarthritis?

As part of normal life, your joints are exposed to a constant low level of damage. In most cases, your body repairs the damage itself and you do not experience any symptoms. But in osteoarthritis, the protective cartilage on the ends of your bones breaks down, causing pain, swelling and problems moving the joint. Bony growths can develop, and the area can become red and swollen.

The exact cause is not known, but several things are thought to increase your risk of developing osteoarthritis, including:

Natural Ageing

Your risk of developing the condition increases as you get older. Primary (idiopathic) osteoarthritis, OA not resulting from injury or disease, is partly a result of natural aging of the joint. With aging, the water content of the cartilage increases, and the protein makeup of cartilage degenerates as a function of biologic processes. Eventually, cartilage begins to degenerate by flaking or forming tiny crevasses. In advanced osteoarthritis, there is a total loss of the cartilage cushion between the bones of the joints.

Joint Injury

Repetitive use of the worn joints and overusing your joint after an injury or operation when it has not had enough time to heal can mechanically irritate and inflame the cartilage, causing joint pain and swelling.

Loss Of Cartilage

Loss of the cartilage cushion causes friction between the bones, leading to pain and limitation of joint mobility. Inflammation of the cartilage can also stimulate new bone outgrowths (spurs, also referred to as osteophytes) to form around the joints.

Family History

Osteoarthritis occasionally can develop in multiple members of the same family, implying a hereditary (genetic) basis for this condition.

Osteoarthritis is therefore felt to be a result of a combination of each of the above factors that ultimately lead to a narrowing of the cartilage in the affected joint.

Secondary Osteoarthritis

Secondary osteoarthritis is a form of osteoarthritis that is caused by another disease or condition. Conditions that can lead to secondary osteoarthritis include :

• Obesity : being obese puts excess strain on your joints, particularly those that bear most of your weight, such as your knees and hips. Obesity causes osteoarthritis by increasing the mechanical stress on the joint and therefore on the cartilage. In fact, next to aging, obesity is the most significant risk factor for osteoarthritis of the knees. The early development of osteoarthritis of the knees among weightlifters is believed to be in part due to their high body weight. Repeated trauma to joint tissues (ligaments, bones, and cartilage) is believed to lead to early osteoarthritis of the knees in soccer players and army military personnel. Interestingly, health studies have not found an increased risk of osteoarthritis in long-distance runners.

• Repeated trauma or surgery to the joint structures,

• Abnormal joints at birth (congenital abnormalities) : Some people are born with abnormally formed joints (congenital abnormalities) that are vulnerable to mechanical wear, causing early degeneration and loss of joint cartilage. Osteoarthritis of the hip joints is commonly related to structural abnormalities of these joints that had been present since birth.

• Gout : crystal deposits in the cartilage can cause cartilage degeneration and osteoarthritis. Uric acid crystals cause arthritis in gout, while calcium pyrophosphate crystals cause arthritis in pseudogout.

• Diabetes, hemochromatosis, and other hormone disorders : hormone disturbances, such as diabetes and growth hormone disorders, are also associated with early cartilage wear and secondary osteoarthritis.

A Study Of Polyphenol Ligstroside-Aglycone In Treatment Of Osteoarthritis

In a recent study at the Faculty Of Pharmacy Seville and the Biomedical Research Institute Coruna (M.S. Meiss, M. Sanchez-Hidalgo, A. González-Benjumea) the effectiveness of LA on osteoarthritis (OA) was examined.

Osteoarthritis is currently, the most frequent cause of pain, deformity and dysfunction in the elderly. It is a late-onset, complex disease of the joint, characterised by progressive failure of the extracellular cartilage matrix (ECM), together with changes in the synovium and subchondral bone.

OA persists as the most common form of arthritis worldwide and the sixth leading cause of disability. Unlike most tissues, articular cartilage does not contain blood vessels, nerves or lymphatics, rather, articular cartilage is composed of a dense ECM with a sparse distribution of highly specialised cells called chondrocytes. Aberrant expression of degradative proteases or catabolic mediators is induced in OA chondrocytes that contributes to cartilage destruction.

To date, there is no definitive cure for this debilitating disease. The mechanism of disease progression in OA remains largely unknown and thus, to date, a more personalised approach is required to aid patient disease management. Current treatments are targeted at reducing symptoms of the inflammatory reaction that occurs following destruction of the essential joint cartilage. These treatments, however, do not prevent the significant pain associated with OA or the often reported restriction of mobility and activity.

To address this unmet need, alternative approaches, including the use of polyphenols as a novel therapeutic intervention are under examination. The objective of this study was to analyse if the polyphenols found in extra virgin olive oil are able to reverse the catabolic activity that contribute to cartilage destruction in OA.

Two polyphenols from extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), oleocanthal (OLC) and ligstroside aglycone (LA), plus a chemically modified acetylated ligstroside aglycone (A-LA), and two marine polyunsaturated fatty acids, eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), were examined as potential anti-inflammatory agents for OA.

The Results

Acetylated ligstroside showed the most promising results for implementation in treating OA as it reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory genes such as inducible nitric oxide (iNOS), matrix metalloprotease-13 (MMP13) and interleukin-1β (IL1B) at both RNA and protein levels; decreased nitric oxide (NO) levels from cartilage explants and also reduced proteoglycan (PG) losses in human osteoarthritic cartilage explants and chondrocytes.

These results substantiate the role of polyphenols in OA with implications for therapeutic intervention and our understanding of OA pathophysiology.

Recently, data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) have demonstrated that adherence to the Mediterranean diet is associated not only with better quality of life but also, significantly, with a lower prevalence of OA. Given that the general population can be viewed as at risk in the development of OA in later life, an approach that relies on dietary modification is attractive in terms of risk / benefit and, potentially, an approach that is more likely to be implementable. Indeed, as an alternative to traditional treatments, alternative modalities have come to the fore including the effects of polyphenols as non-invasive treatments, based on the evidence that epigenetic changes are triggered by dietary nutrients and contribute to the prevention of a number of diseases.

Source: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2041731420922701

This continues our series of articles about the polyphenol content of our new harvest extra virgin olive oil and what they can do to improve our health. As we have reported, this year’s harvest has produced a low acidity level of 0.2% together with the highest level of polyphenols yet seen in our extra virgin olive oil of 644 mg/kg