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Polyphenols constitute an important category of vegetable antioxidants found on the leaves and the fruit of olive trees in significant quantities and transferred to the olive oil through its extraction process.
Polyphenols are beneficial to humans. Apart from their proven effect against heart diseases, they also prevent cell mutation and carcinogenesis.
Messinia olive oil extracted from the "Koroneiki" variety is rich in polyphenols. The season of olive crop plays an important role in the presence of polyphenols. The analysis of measurements that I carried out in five different areas of Messinia, during which samples were taken every 17 days throughout the 2001-2002 olive picking season, revealed the time of maximum concentration of total polyphenols in relation to the degree of ripening of the olive and it is this degree that will be announced in the conference. |
