Influence of Variety and Maturity Stage on Sterolic Composition of Virgin Olive Oil from Central-Western Sicily

Olive oil is one of the most important food products throughout the Mediterranean Basin due to its high nutritional and dietetic value. In recent years, there has been increased interest in the sterols of olive oil for their health benefts and their importance to virgin olive oil quality regulation. The impact of sterols on the human health is proved by several studies, showing that a suffcient quantity of β-sitosterol inhibits the intestinal absorption of LDL-cholesterol. In olive oil the phytosterol concentration ranges from 800 to 2600 mg kg-1. Sterol esters evaluation has been proposed as useful parameter in studies related to varietal and geographical discrimination. Cultivar and maturity stage are considered among the main factors affecting sterolic composition. In this study, the sterol content of oils extracted from different Sicilian varieties growing in two different ambient of Sicily and during different stages of maturity, were analyzed. The total sterol contents results were similar to other Mediterranean varieties and Italian oils, however some samples showed a sterol content above the minimum limit (1000 mg/kg) established by the International Olive Oil Council (IOOC) for Virgin Olive Oil. All oils have a high quality, taking into account the main parameters required by the IOOC, including those with sterol values below the limit. Therefore, the results obtained suggested that the olive oils discriminated only for a sterol below legal limit should be re-evaluated, as these values were only caused by particular variety and environmental conditions.