BIOACTIVE EDIBLE OILS PROBED BY NEUTRON SPECTROSCOPY

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) contains numerous phenolic components with well recognised health-beneficial properties, namely high antioxidant capacity. These characteristics depend on their structural/conformational behaviour, which are greatly determined by intra- and intermolecular H-bond interactions. With a view to understand the biological activity of these dietary compounds, for a rational and conscious consumption aiming at improving public health, the present experiment probes some of the main phenolic constituents of EVOO by inelastic neutron scattering spectroscopy at TOSCA.The results thus obtained will hopefully allow us to better understand the structure-activity relationships (SARs) underlying the beneficial activity of EVOO components.