Olive leaf was first used medicinally in Ancient Egypt.
Contents
-
- Botanical classification of olive leaf.
- Phytochemicals and Constituents:Mechanisms.
- Brief Benefits of Olive Leaf Extract.
- Olive Leaf Extract:the Microbe Fighter:Olive Leaf Extract Natural Defense against Biowarfare Antibacterial Agent and Inactivating Viral Invaders.
- Research Progress and identified Applicaitons Olive Leaves.
- Therapeutic Applications and Administration.
- Olive Leaf Extract as a new formulation choice.
- History of The Olive Tree.
- A Simple Combination:Echinacea-Goldenseal-Olive leaf Formula.
- Olive Exorcism.
- Olive Leaf:Research Update.
Olive Leaf Extract:the Microbe Fighter:Olive Leaf Extract Natural Defense against Biowarfare Antibacterial Agent and Inactivating Viral Invaders.:
Antibacterial Agent:
Scientists began taking a closer look at olive leaf extract because the leaves of Olea europaea are known to be resistant to attack by insects and microbes. Researchers have published numerous studies concluding that olive leafs active ingredient, oleuropein, is a natural antibiotic agent.
With the threat of bioterrorism looming larger, a report in Dr. Morton Walkers book, Natures Antibiotic: Olive Leaf Extract is of particular interest. Dr. Walker noted that this natural substance is toxic to bacteria-caused diseases like anthrax and botulism. Furthermore, it is well-known that wastewater from olive oil mills kills aerobic spore-forming bacteria. Anthrax (Bacillus anthracis) is spore forming and aerobic.
Oleuropein also is toxic to other members of the bacillus bacteria family. A 1991 report in Biotechnology and Applied Biochemistry documented that oleuropein, at adequate concentrations, inhibited spore germination and the outgrowth of Bacillus cereus spores. Bacillus cereus causes a potentially lethal form of food poisoning characterized by vomiting, severe flatulence, diarrhea, muscular weakness, nerve damage to the heart, and pain in the upper arms, neck, chest and bones. Oleuropein is thought to achieve the bacterial destruction of Bacillus cereus by either inactivating cellular enzymes crucial for bacterial replication or by attacking the cell membrane, destroying its permeability and causing leakage of intracellular components such as glutamate, potassium and phosphorus. The authors concluded that oleuropeins method of action was similar to that of BHT.
An in vitro study revealed that oleuropein and its derivative hydroxytyrosol act as natural antibiotics against a range of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Most impressively, these two components of olive leaf inhibited Staphylococcus aureus, the bacteria responsible for many hospital-acquired infections. Staphylococcus aureus is notorious for its ability to mutate against antibiotics, and there are few antibiotics left to wipe out this life-threatening micro-organism.
Components in olive leaf extract also have inhibited the growth of E. Coli and Bacillus subtilis.
As recently as 1998, researchers investigated oleuropeins antibacterial action and concluded that it can enhance nitric oxide production in mouse macrophages. By increasing nitric oxide production, oleuropein appears to arm the macrophages against endotoxins (bacterial poisons generated by gram-negative bacteria). Interestingly, oleuropein only increased nitric oxide production when endotoxins were present.
Antimicrobial properties,manufacturing problems:
The second historical source indicating that components of the olive tree had biologically important properties came from the European olive fermentation industry. Up until the 1970s, the industry had suffered problems in the fermentation of olives, a process involving lactic acid pickling, because of strong resistance of the fresh fruits to the action of lactic acid bacteria.
In 1960, Panizzi et al9 had isolated a bitter glucoside, oleuropein, from olive leaves, with the empirical formula C25H32O13. The substance, later determined to be a phenolic compound belonging to the iridoid group,10 was also present in the olive itself. Oleuropein, as with Pallas "Vauqueline", was considered to be the source of the olive tree's powerful disease-resistant properties. It was subsequently found that removal of oleuropein from olives enabled fermentation to take place successfully.
The olive oil manufacturing industry had also long been well aware of the rich antibacterial properties of the olive tree. The manufacturing process involves milling of olive paste and continuous washing with water, known as malaxation. The waste waters from this process were generally discarded; however, it was found that if the waters found their way into the soil, they displaced beneficial bacterial flora and adversely affected the natural biodegradation process.
Antibacterial actions in vitro studies:
A variety of antibacterial actions of oleuropein and its associated compounds have been demonstrated in vitro. Fleming et al8 isolated six major phenolic compounds from green olives; one particular compound, possibly a hydrolysis product of oleuropein, was much more inhibitory than oleuropein itself to the lactic acid bacterium Leuconostoc mesenteroides FBB 42. Later on, the oleuropein aglycone and elenolic acid were found to strongly inhibit the growth of three further species of lactic acid bacteria,Lactobacillus plantarum, Pediococcus cerevisiae, and Lactobacillus brevis. Since the aglycone is composed of elenolic acid bound to b-3,4-dihydroxyphenylethyl alcohol, and the latter compound was not inhibitory, the investigators concluded that elenolic acid was the inhibitory part of the aglycone molecule. Oleuropein itself was not inhibitory to these bacteria, but did inhibit three species of non-lactic acid bacteria,Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillis subtilis and Pseudomonas solanecearum. In addition, an acid hydrolysate of an extract of oleuropein (containing hydrolysis products of oleuropein not specifically identified) inhibited the growth of a further eight species of bacteria.
Some more recent in vitro studies have shown that oleuropein and/or its hydrolysis products also inhibit the germination and sporulation of Bacillus megaterium15 and inhibit outgrowth of germinating spores of Bacillus cereus T.21
Antiviral actions:Inactivating Viral Invaders:
In addition to its antibacterial actions, elenolic acid has been shown to be a potent inhibitor of a wide spectrum of viruses. In search of new antiviral compounds, Renis22 tested the effects of the calcium salt of elenolic acid (which had proved to be the most active olive-derived compound against bacteria) on a range of viruses in vitro, and found that calcium elenolate destroyed all the viruses it was tested against. These included herpes, vaccinia, pseudorabies, influenza A (PR8), Newcastle disease, parainfluenza 3, Coxsackie A21, encephalomyocarditis, polio 1, 2 and 3, vesicular stomatitis, Sindbis and reovirus 3 (Deering) viruses. Calcium elenolate also inhibits the RNA-dependent DNA polymerase I enzymes (reverse transcriptases) of murine leukaemia viruses (MuLV(M) and Rauscher),23 and the DNA polymerase II and III enzymes of Eschericha coli24 in vitro. In addition to its in vitro effects, Soret25 showed that calcium elenolate effectively reduced viral titres in vivo when given before and/or after inoculation of hamsters with myxovirus parainfluenza type 3 (HA-1 virus, strain C-243). Treatment with calcium elenolate, but not placebo, prevented spread of viral infection to the lungs.
Researchers have shown that calcium elenolate, a component of olive leaf extract, is lethal to a number of viruses. Different forms of influenza viruses were particularly vulnerable to this natural substance. In fact, calcium elenolate inactivated all influenza viruses tested by the Upjohn researchers. The researchers hypothesized that the calcium elenolate prevents viruses from entering cells.
In a 1969 report in the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the lead researcher for the Upjohn study, Harold E. Renis, reported that calcium elenolate inhibited a number of viruses, including parainfluenza, herpes, pseudorabies, vesicular stomatitis, encephalomyocarditis, Newcastle disease, some forms of polio, and Sindbis. Every virus exposed to calcium elenolate, except for reovirus and poliovirus, were inactivated.
Renis and his team saw great promise in olive leafs active component, calcium elenolate. In his report, Renis wrote, ...calcium elenolate is virucidal for a broad spectrum of viruses.
Other researchers at Upjohn administered calcium elenolate into the nasal cavities of a variety of animals. They found it to be safe and well-tolerated.According to Dr. Morton Walker, olive leaf extract also inactivates smallpox, Ebola, plague, Epstein-Barr virus and hepatitis.
Potential Against Serious Infectious Diseases:
Deaths from infectious diseases, formerly on the decline, have recently taken an alarming upward turn in this country.
According to federal researchers, such deaths rose by 58% from 1980 to 1992, pushing this category of illness up behind heart disease and cancer in the No. 3 spot of killer diseases.
While the AIDS epidemic accounts for most of the rise, experts say there has been an unusual increase in mysterious respiratory infections among the elderly and blood infections among people of all ages. When you eliminate the AIDS the death rate during the same period for all other infectious diseases rose by 22 percent.
The World Health Organization (WHO), back in 1978, looked to the future and issued a report which contended that by the year 2000, sources other than Western, technological medicine would be needed in order for all people to have adequate health care. The organization subsequently adopted the report that recommended the use of traditional forms of healing and medicine, such as the use of herbs, to meet the demands of an factor, exploding global population.
As we approach the year 2000, the wisdon -- and the urgency -- of this advice is obvious in the light of the serious side-effects and shortcoming of pharmaceutical drugs.
With the emergence, for instance, of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains, natural products such as olive leaf extract take on greater importance. Even if new antibiotics are developed, new infectious bacteria would emerge that are resistant to new drugs. In the case of herbal medicinals, their complex chemistry may often render them potentially more effective against a wide variety of microorganisms for which pharmaceutical drugs prove to be ineffective.
Anti AIDS:
It will be interesting to see if olive leaf extract can benefit AIDS cases. We know that it inhibits the production of reverse transcriptase and protease, enzymes necessary for certain viruses, such as HIV, to damage healthy cells.
Informal, preliminary reports are promising.
Mark Konlee, editor of "Positive Health News," a newletter on alternative treatments that circulates widely in the AIDS community, has reported exciting initial results with olive leaf extract, either in the tablet supplement form or directly as a tea brewed from leaves, in combination with other ingredients.
Those other ingredients, according to Konlee, have been found to be highly beneficial over the years. They include:
Naltrexone, an immune-stabilizing drug used in the treatment of heroin and alcohol addiction. Clinical trials conducted by Bernard Bihari, MD, a New York City physician specializing in HIV/AIDS, demonstrated that this preparation stops the progression of the disease and the decline of the immune system in a majority of patients who take it regularly. Naltrexone stimulates key hormones regulating the immune system and the communication between the brain and immune function. No side effects have been reported.
DNCB (dinitrochlorobenzene), a chemical used in photography labs that is applied in small doses on the skin. This compound acts as anti-viral agent by stimulating killer cell activity. An estimated 7,000 patients with AIDS have used this substance for some 10 years.
A blend of olive oil/whole lemon juice. This "grassroots" recipe appears to be uniquely helpful in reversing neuropathy, swollen lymph nodes and wasting syndrome associated with the HIV.
Konlee reports that the combination, with added olive leaf extract, "has producted stunning results," including viral loads dropping dramatically within a month. Among the cases he describes are these:
1. A patient had been using Naltrexone since October 1995 along with weekly topical applications of DNCB. He had not used the olive oil/lemon juice blend. In August of that year he had had a CD8 count of 700. CD8 refers to killer T cells, which, along with so-called Natural Killer cells, are major immune destroyers of virus infected cells. They reduce viral loads and inhibit damage to the body's defenses.
In January of 1996, his CD8 count had risen to 1380. In March of 1996 he added olive leaf extract at the standart dose of one capsule four times daily. He initially experienced a mild headache, a probably "die-off effect." Within days, he reported a significant increase in energy along with the disappearance of swollen lymph nodes. He said he felt 20 years younger. On March 21, his CD8 count had soared to 1920! His physician said never before in his career had he seen such improvement in an AIDS patient.
2. One patient reported that after finishing a bottle of olive leaf extract, one of three Kaposi Sarcoma lesions on his chest vanished. He experienced headaches and flu-like symptoms for about two weeks, again a probable "die-off effect." Continuing with a second bottle, he said the second lesion was completely gone and the last one was "fading fast."
His HIV viral load, as measured by PCR technology, had dropped from 160,000 to 30,000 in two months. Soon afterward, he reported that his PCR results for HIV were now down to 692.
3. An HIV patient reported his genital herpes vanished within four days of starting on the olive leaf extract.
4. Another patient with Kaposi's Sarcoma and retinitis added five capsules of olive leaf extract daily along with Naltrexone and DNCB. After doing this, he said that the sarcoma lesions stopped growing. This prompted him to stop two drugs he had been taking -- Ganciclovir and Biaxin -- because of severe intestinal side effects. A few days after discontinuing the drugs, his digestion returned to normal. He soon reported improved vision and that lesions were becoming lighter in color.
5. One patient took the olive leaf extract by itself for about 3 1/2 months. His HIV viral load dropped nearly in half as a result, along with significant improvements in his white blood cell counts. After adding Naltrexone and the lemon/olive oil drink, his improvement accelerated.
6. In reference to HIV, Positive Health News (m) reports that a man from Oakland, CA, who after taking Olive Leaf Extract 4 times a day for 3-1/2 months, without any other medications, lowered his HIV viral load 47%, his CD4 and CD8 count rose 24% and 27%, his WBC was increased 38% and his absolute Lymphocyte count rose 40%. I'd say Olive Leaf Extract made a difference!
Reference:
-
- 1.Olive leaf was first used medicinally in Ancient Egypt.
Article Information:
♥The article and literature was edited by herbalist of MDidea Extracts Professional.It runs a range of online descriptions about the titled herb and related phytochemicals,including comprehensive information related,summarized updating discoveries from findings of herbalists and clinical scientists from this field.The electronic data information published at our official website www.mdidea.com and www.mdidea.net,we tried best to update it to latest and exact as possible.
♣ last edit date:
