Olive leaf is the leaf of the olive tree (Olea europaea). While olive oil is well known for its flavor and health benefits, the leaf has been used medicinally in various times and places. Olive leaf and olive leaf extracts (OLE), are now marketed as anti-aging, immunostimulator, and antibiotic agents. Though there is some laboratory evidence for these effects in biological standardization experiments (i.e., bioassays), clinical evidence in humans is inconclusive.
Clinical evidence has been conflicting regarding any blood pressure lowering effect of carefully extracted olive leaf extracts. Bioassays support its antibacterial, antifungal, and anti-inflammatory effects at a laboratory level. A liquid extract made directly from fresh olive leaves gained international attention when it was shown to have an antioxidant capacity almost double green tea extract and 400% higher than vitamin C.
Read more about Olive Leaf: Leaf Appearance, Active Compounds, Nutritional and Medicinal Uses
Famous quotes containing the words olive and/or leaf:
“Peace puts forth her olive everywhere.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Our life is a faint tracing on the surface of mystery, like the idle, curved tunnels of leaf miners on the face of a leaf. We must somehow take a wider view, look at the whole landscape, really see it, and describe what’s going on here. Then we can at least wail the right question into the swaddling band of darkness, or, if it comes to that, choir the proper praise.”
—Annie Dillard (b. 1945)