What Are Polyphenols?

We require our Morocco Gold to have a polyphenol level greater than 250mg/kg. This is the European Union legal requirement for a producer to make the appropriate health claims for Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

The high polyphenol content of Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is dependent on three factors. First is the variety of the olive, secondly the climate and terroire of the growing region and thirdly the actual time in the growing season that the crop is harvested.

Morocco Gold is pressed from the Picholine Marocaine, the only type of olive to go into Morocco Gold. Oil from this variety is renowned for it’s high polyphenol count, oxidative stability and longevity.

Our olives are grown in a valley that is about 2,000 feet above sea level. This helps to create the additional climatic challenges that encourage polyphenol uptake within the olive tree. It is also an area with naturally occurring high phenols in the soil itself.

Thirdly, our olives are picked when the fruit is young and green. As the olives age on the tree, the colour of the olive changes to red and then black, the size of the olive increases thus producing more oil, but the polyphenol level decreases. There is a great deal of expertise within the farming community where we source our oil to ensure that the harvest is collected at the optimum time to maximise the polyphenol level.

What we set out to do at Morocco Gold is to create an extra virgin olive oil that combines the taste characteristics of a premium extra virgin olive oil, young and fruity, with the health enhancing polyphenols to create an extra virgin olive oil that is well balanced and not too ‘aggressive’ (peppery / bitter) when taken on its own.

The bitterness that you taste is in fact an indication of the quality of the oil as it is caused by the presence of the polyphenols in our oil. The oil from our current harvest contained the highest level of polyphenols to date at 644 mg/kg.

The high polyphenol content of Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil is dependent on three factors. First is the variety of the olive, secondly the climate and terroire of the growing region and thirdly the actual time in the growing season that the crop is harvested.

Morocco Gold is pressed from the Picholine Marocaine, the only type of olive to go into Morocco Gold. Oil from this variety is renowned for it’s high polyphenol count, oxidative stability and longevity.

That all said however, at the end of the day it is all a matter of taste.

Thank you for your interest in Morocco Gold extra virgin olive oil and for your feedback which we value highly. Regarding the issues you raised :

Whilst it is true that the levels of polyphenols in extra virgin olive oil will fall over time, this is dependent on a number of factors including the olive variety and how the oil is stored and bottled. In general terms the deterioration over a 12-month period can be between 5% and 20%.

Morocco Gold olives are pressed only from the Picholine Marrocaine which is well known for its high polyphenol content, chemical stability and longevity. In addition, our bespoke bottle is made using thicker, dark glass which is designed to protect the quality of the oil, including the polyphenol level, over time.

So although you are only one person, the polyphenol content and associated health benefits will remain high over your likely period of consumption. Our latest harvest had the highest polyphenol count we have experienced to date at 644mg/kg which is well above the European Food Safety Authority standard of 250mg/kg.

Please be assured, our olive oil comes from only one source and is most definitely not a mixture / blend from a number of different countries / sources.

Regarding the method used for testing for polyphenols we use 2 methods. The first is the HPLV-UVD Chromatographic method (which you refer to), the second is the LC-MSMS method. The first gives a total polyphenol count, expressed as Tyrosol, the second gives the breakdown into individual constituent polyphenols.

Both methods are recognised / approved by the IOC (International Olive Council). The company that does our testing also does the testing for the International Olive Oil Competition in New York.

There are other tests that measure polyphenols – expressed as ‘EGCG Equivalents’. These tend to produce higher numbers however this is a measure of polyphenols in green tea and are not the same as the specific polyphenols found in high quality olive oils like Morocco Gold.

Unfortunately, it is not unheard of for unscrupulous olive oil producers using these EGCG Equivalents (which can be over 1,000mg/kg) to describe their oil.

This is why we are pleased to provide the detailed breakdown of each of our harvest years oil, including the total level of polyphenols.

We now have year by year analysis that show polyphenol levels well above the European Food Safety Authority recommendation concerning health claims for extra virgin olive oils – i.e. polyphenol content of more than 250mg / kg.

As a matter of policy, we wanted to include as much information about our oil on our labelling, to provide the reassurance of extra virgin quality. We also check with our local standards agency here in the UK to ensure that this information is in strict compliance with regulatory requirements.

Morocco Gold Extra Virgin Olive Oil bottle size is 500ml (17 fl.Oz.USA). There are around 35 tablespoons in each bottle (1 tbs. = 14.3ml).

Our latest harvest polyphenol content is 644 mg / kg.

So there are around 18.4 mg / kg in each tablespoon (644 / 35)

2-3 tablespoon will therefore deliver between 36.8 and 55.2 mg/kg per day

At 2 tablespoons per day a bottle should last around 17-18 days

European Food Safety Authority Recommendation

The European Food Safety Authority regulation states that extra virgin olive oil with a polyphenol level of 250mg / kg and above can make health claims. However it is also very specific about which polyphenols this applies to. It specifically states that this must include hydroxytyrosol and its derivites, (oleuropein and tyrosol). So long as these polyphenols are present, the beneficial effects can be obtained with a daily intake of around 20ml of olive oil.

At this level of polyphenol, 1 tablespoon will have around 7.1 mg/kg (250 / 35) So to get the health benefits you would need to take around 3 tablespoons per day.

Because our concentration of polyphenol is much higher than the standard, you will get the associated health benefits with around 2 tablespoons per day.

I personally have a ‘shot’ of around 2-3 tablespoons per day.

I do hope this has been helpful – do please reach out if you need any further clarification.

Regarding the ‘pepperiness’ of olive oils with high polyphenol content – you are quite right that in general, the higher the polyphenol content, the more ‘peppery’ the oil is. It does however depend on a number of factors. This includes the variety of the olive, secondly the climate and terroire of the growing region and thirdly the actual time in the growing season that the crop is harvested.

Morocco Gold is pressed from the Picholine Marocaine, the only type of olive to go into Morocco Gold. Oil from this variety is renowned in Morocco for it’s high polyphenol count, oxidative stability and longevity.

Our olives are grown in a valley that is about 2,000 feet above sea level that does have the additional climatic challenges that encourage polyphenol generation. It is also an area with naturally occurring high phenols in the soil itself, so all in all it is a pretty unique source.

Thirdly, our olives are picked when the fruit is young and green. As the olives age on the tree, the colour of the olive changes to red and then black, the size of the olive increases thus producing more oil, but the polyphenol level decreases. There is a great deal of expertise within the farming community where we source our oil to ensure that the harvest is collected at the optimum time to maximise the polyphenol level and achieve the organoleptic (taste) characteristics we re looking for.

Our aim at Morocco Gold is to combines the taste characteristics of a premium extra virgin olive oil, young and fruity, with the health enhancing polyphenols to create an extra virgin olive oil that is well balanced and not too ‘aggressive’ when taken on its own. At the end of the day, it is all a matter of taste, as well as enjoying the health benefits.

For our 2021/22 harvest we are pleased to say the level of polyphenols is the highest we have yet seen. The breakdown is:

• 3,4 DHPEA-EDA                                           85 mg/kg
• Hydroxytyrosol   5 mg/kg
• Lignanes 26 mg/kg
• Ligstroside aglycone (p, HPEA-EA) 20 mg/kg
• Oleuropein aglycone (3,4 DHPEA-EA) 71 mg/kg
• p, HPEA-EDA 65 mg/kg
• Tyrosol                         372 mg/kg

• TOTAL 644mg/kg

It is the polyphenol Oleocanthal that is responsible for the “peppery / stinging” sensation at the back of your throat when you taste the oil. In fact, this is how the molecule got its name, ’oleo’ meaning oil and ‘canth’ which is Greek for stinging or prickly. So this represents around 1/10^th of the polyphenols in Morocco Gold.

That said, the following illustrates the range of chronic conditions where research into these polyphenols oil has demonstrated positive effects.

We know that many of our customers do value Morocco Gold for its health enhancing qualities. In fact the European Food Safety Authority has approved health claims for extra virgin olive oils with polyphenol content of more than 250mg / kg. As you will see, Morocco Gold contains polyphenols well above this level.

Our aim has always been to create a high-quality extra virgin olive oil that balances great taste with health enhancing polyphenols. We also wanted to ensure the pepperiness is not too ‘aggressive’ when taken. (In our own research, we have come across olive oils that have the characteristics of paint stripper when taken – really quite unpleasant to taste).

If you would like some further detail about the polyphenols in Morocco Gold, we will be pleased to forward a PDF copy of our book – Morocco Gold: Food Of The Gods.