PREFACE   OF THE BOOK OLIVES AND OLIVE OIL AS FUNCTIONAL FOODS

Olives and  olive oil and the effect of their functional compounds  as bioactives  on human health has been discussed during the last years all over the world. This interest is likely to continue for the next  years and many  more. People will learn more about the importance of olive oil and its role in reducing oxidative stress -  a serious risk factor for our health.

The book will provide a thorough information about olives and olive oil, concerning mainly composition, analysis, fruit processing, quality, use of by-products, etc  and will help the reader to  understand the importance of this product for the agricultural economy and the relevance of its bioactives to our health.

 There are 36 chapters written by distinguished authors and industry leaders in the field covering the following major areas: Production; Postharvest handling; Physico-chemical characteristics; Chemistry; Processing; Nutritional and Phenolic Composition; Significance to Human Health; Lipidomics; Finger printing and DNA quality authentication; Packaging and Marketing; Waste treatment and utilization.

This book will  probably be  the  first one in the market providing so much  information for farmers, traders , olive oil mill  owners, packaging unit  owners , consumers, scientists and students. The readers will understand the significance of new trends of olive oil for health and economical aspects. Generally it will be a valuable reference text  for agricultural scientists , nutritionists, dieticians, physicians and anybody else  related to health. Recent new dimensions  in scientific knowledge have revealed the importance of  bioactive compounds of olives and olive oil on health. There is a great interest in the bioactive constituents of olives and  olive oil and their functional properties. These will be clearly demonstrated in the proposed book. A nutritional and economic growth of this sector is in process internationally. At the same time this increase and growth has created new questions and demands.

The present  book will be among the first in the market with  a comprehensive coverage dealing with functional and nutraceutical properties of olive products based on their unique composition. The book is focused on carefully selected topics of special importance, written by carefully chosen   authors . It is organized in a way that will help the reader find the answers to his questions  quickly and  simply. It is divided in convenient sections focusing on important issues that concern the members of the scientific community or the members of the olive oil industry. The issues are analyzed in separate topics. Each topic is unique and can be referenced individually. All  the topics not only offer an up-to-date view of the present situation  of olives and olive oil international but also the evolution concerning their  FUNCTIONAL VALUE . We hope that this book  would meet the need for a good text in the field.