Monday, October 1, 2007

Olive Leaf Extract Research

Olive Leaf Extract
Olive Leaf Extract:
Excerpts taken from the above websites:
Olive leaf has a wide number of constituents, including oleuropein and several types of flavonoids (e.g., rutin, apigenin, luteolin). Researchers are finding olive leaf extract to be a powerful tool in the fight for wellness.
The most important element in olive leaf extract is a compound called oleuropein. When enzymes in the body metabolize oleuropein it provides substantial health promoting benefits, such as helping the body battle viruses, bacteria, and fungi, supporting healthy cell repl How does olive leaf extract work?

The active ingredient in olive leaf extract is called oleuropein. Oleuropein is a polyphenolic fraction derived from the fruit, leaves, bark and roots of the olive tree, which help make it strongly resistant to damage from insects and other factors. Oleuropein is known as an iridoid, a type of plant chemical found throughout the olive tree and in olive oil. Within Oleuropein is a chemical agent called elenolic acid, which has been shown to assist the body's immune defense. Research studies have found that elenolic acid helps the body to balance levels of friendly bacteria and support the immune system. The energy-boosting benefits of olive leaf extract are believed to be the result of its ability to help fend off fungi, which overtax the immune system, and yeast overgrowth (such as Candida albicans), which cause fatigue. Olive leaf extract provides nutritional support for detoxification at the cellular level, when the body is under stress. It has been shown to protect RNA structure.
Like the polyphenolic component of red wine, resveratrol, oleuropein imparts some important antioxidant benefits that may help prevent the oxidation of LDL cholesterol and support healthy heart function. The oxidation of LDL cholesterol—the so-called "bad" cholesterol—can severely damage the walls of arteries. Along with resveratrol, oleuropein is high on the list of beneficial components of the acclaimed Mediterranean Diet (which includes olive oil), believed to be responsible for the reduced incidence of heart disease in those who habitually partake in the Diet.
Benefits:

Most people know the benefits of olive oil for circulatory health. But Nature's Sunshine Olive Leaf Extract alone appears to support several circulatory needs all at once, including blood pressure balance, healthy arteries, normal heart rhythm and free radical protection. Oleuropein, a key constituent, is a prime example. It was found to be one ingredient in a compound produced by the olive tree that makes it particularly robust and resistant against insect and bacterial damage. It is thought to prevent LDL or “bad” cholesterol from oxidation, much like vitamin E, but with even stronger results.



Nature's Sunshine Olive Leaf Extract:

• Protects against viral, bacterial and parasitic invasion, and is especially desirable during foreign travel.

• Does not harm beneficial bacteria.

• Helps the body control blood pressure.

• Fights free radical damage as a strong antioxidant.

• Supports healthy blood sugar levels.

• Serves the immune, circulatory, urinary and digestive systems.



Research:

In a series of experiments, oleuropein was found to inactivate bacteria by apparently dissolving the outer lining of microbes.
At the University of Milan Pharacological Sciences, researchers found that oleuropein inhibited oxidation of low-density lipoproteins, the so-called "bad cholesterol" involved in heart and aterial disease. This revelation, if confirmed by further research, suggests that oleuropein may contain antioxidant properties similar to other phytochemical compounds. Medical researcher Morton Walker, D.P.M., writing about olive leaf extract in the July 1996 issue of the Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients, comments that the intake of flavonoids "is correlated with a lower incidence of cardiovascular disease indicated that the daily intake of olive oil and/or olive leaf extract containing phenols will likely bring on a similar result." At the present time, the cardiovascular research community is excited about such actions. Studies have shown that some phytochemicals can reduce the harmful oxidation of cholesterol as well as slow down the accelerated clumping of blood platelets that can lead to dangerous clots.
At Spain's University of Granada, pharmacologists determined that olive leaf extract causes relaxation of arterial walls in laboratory animals. Such results suggest a possible benefit for hypertension, an effect first mentioned by researchers more than 30 years ago.
In Tunis, researchers found that aqueous extract of olive leaves reduced hypertension, blood sugar, and the level of uric acid in rodents. This finding again indicates potential in the treatment of hypertension, as well as diabetes and heart disease. An elevated uric acid level is a risk factor for heart disease.
Researchers at Upjohn found olive leaf extract effective in test tube experiments against the following viruses: herpes, vaccinia, pseudorabies, Newcastle, Coxsacloe A 21, encepthlomyocarditis, polio 1, 2, and 3, vesicular stomititus, sindbis, reovirus, Moloney Murine leukemia, Rauscher Murine leukemia, Moloney sarcoma, and many influenza and parainfluenza types.
They found it effective against these bacteria and parasitic protozoans: lactobacillus plantarum W50, brevis 50, pediococcus cerevisiae 39, leuconostoc mesenteroides 42, staphylococcus aureus, bacillus subtilis, enterobacteraerogenes NRRL B-199, E. cloacae NRRL B-414, E. coli, salamonella tyhimurium, pseudomonas fluorescens, P. solanacearum, P. lachrymans, erwinia carotovora, E. tracheiphila, xanthomonas vesicatoria, corynesbacterium Michiganese, plasmodium falciparum, virax and malariae.
The researchers credit a number of unique properties possessed by the olive leaf compound for the broad killing power:
* An ability to interfere with critical amino acid production essential for viruses.
* An ability to contain viral infection and/or spread by inactivating viruses or by preventing virus shedding, budding or assembly at the cell membrane.
* The ability to directly penetrate infected cells and stop viral replication.
* In the case of retroviruses, it is able to neutralize the production of reverse transcriptase and protease. These enzymes are essential for a retrovirus, such as HIV, to alter the RNA of a healthy cell.
* It can stimulate phagocytosis, an immune system response in which cells ingest harmful microorganisms and foreign matter.
The research suggests that this may be a "true anti-viral" compound because it appears to selectively block an entire virus-specific system in the infected host. It thus appears to offer healing effects not addressed by pharmaceutical antibiotics.
Nature's Sunshine Advantage:

This amazing product delivers one of the highest levels of oleuropein available anywhere. To ensure maximum results, Olive Leaf Extract is specially prepared by a patented process to concentrate its desired natural benefits. And considering its high level of effective ingredients, standardized to 12 percent oleuropein, it is competitively priced.



Recommended Use:

Take 1–3 capsules daily with a meal

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