As announced by the associate professor of Pharmacognosy and Natural Products Chemistry of the Department of Pharmacy of NKUA, Dr. Magiatis Prokopios, with his letter from March 17, 2023, he warmly thanks Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms for their kind donations and their continuous effort to produce very high-quality olives, that have already been used in three clinical studies for the effect of their daily consumption on the lipidemic profile of patients with hyperlipidemia.

The 1st study was conducted on healthy volunteers from 2014 to 2016, with the table olives of Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms and was the first study internationally to show the beneficial effect of table olives on the lipid profile of the participants. The results were presented at the international conference of the Oleocanthal International Society, 2-3 June 2016 at the International Olympic Academy, at Olympia (read more).

Based on the positive results of the 1st study, a 2nd study was carried out in a larger group of patients with hyperlipidemia, lasting five years, from 2017 to 2022 and entitled "The effect of daily consumption of Kalamata table olives on the lipidemic profile of patients with hyperlipidemia".

The research was carried out at the Hypertension Unit, First University Cardiology Clinic, Ippokratio GNA (Director Professor Konstantinos Tsioufis) and at the Biopathological Laboratory, 401 General Military Hospital of Athens (Director Mr. Konstantinos Liaskonis) in collaboration with the Department of Pharmacy of NKUA (Professor N. Drakoulis) where 94 volunteers participated, of which 71 completed the study.

Statistically significant results were found in cholesterol and LDL levels of 71 patients (p<0.05), while no significant change in HDL and TG levels was observed. Cholesterol showed a significant decrease of 9.01 units and LDL levels showed a decrease of 10.98 units after only 30 days of daily consumption of just five olives (read more).

The impressive results of these two clinical studies, with a daily intake of just 5 organic olives from Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms, allowed the research team of the Department of Pharmacy of NKUA to transform the olives in the form of powder into a capsule, with an international patent, and to conduct the first part of the 3rd study which was carried out in patients with hyperlipidemia, who received daily 2 capsules of the dietary supplement that has been notified to the National Organization for Medicines and was produced from organic olives by Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms.

As mentioned by the associate professor of the Department of Pharmacy of NKUA, Dr. Magiatis Prokopios, in his letter, the results of the first part of the 3rd clinical study led to its extension, starting in April 2023, to a larger number of participating patients (>100 subjects, with borderline hyperlipidemia not receiving treatment) and the last part of the study, in which the Kalamata olives by Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms with the commercial title "Plus Health Kalamata olives", that have a very high content of phenols will be used as raw material for the production of the dietary supplement.

Thus, the beneficial properties of Kalamata table olives for health, mainly in the lipid profile of volunteers and in particular in the LDL/HDL cholesterol ratio as well as in the protection of the cardiovascular system, resulted from all these clinical studies and research carried out from 2014 until today, in healthy volunteers and patients.

For the specific studies, the Kalamata organic table olives with a high phenolic content by the Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms from Sparta were selected exclusively, among 150 different types and qualities of table olives, after their phenol content and especially hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol content was examined.

These olives have exhibited extremely high levels of phenols throughout the years, specifically hydroxytyrosol and tyrosol, which exceed by a large percentage the average values of the olives analyzed during the period 2014 - 2023. It is noted that tyrosol and hydroxytyrosol are substances which have been attributed antioxidant and cardioprotective properties.

Based on analyzes carried out with the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance method, these olives contain more than 1850 mg/Kg of phenols and thus the daily consumption of just 2 - 3 grams of olives provides more than 5 mg of hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol or their derivatives, corresponding to the consumption of 20 grams of olive oil, which belongs to the category of olive oils that protect against blood lipid oxidation according to regulation 432/2012 of the European Union.

At the same time, these are organically grown olives, without pasteurization, produced by the process of natural fermentation, without chemical additives or preservatives and possess superior organoleptic and quality characteristics that are confirmed by the awards they have received in the largest taste and quality competitions around the world.

These are the main reasons why the organic Kalamata olives by Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms were chosen to participate exclusively in the clinical studies and it is worth noting that in the last ten (10) years, in order to enable the development scientific research, Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms have donated more than 700 kg of organic olives, which have been used in the three clinical studies, as well as in their extension for the production of a dietary supplement, in the form of capsules.

*It should be noted that neither olives nor the dietary supplement replace drugs for the control of hyperlipidemia, but the purpose of the study is to demonstrate that they could be used by people with borderline hyperlipidemia, combined with an appropriate dietary intervention.