Football: Cyprus Olive Oil Energises Players
By Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw
It has been reported that football players are lining up for a shot of early-harvested green olive oil from a small mill in the Larnaca District of Cyprus.
The peppery, throat-burning liquid is packed with inflammation-busting polyphenols.
The players, who are taking the shot, claim that it helps them to play harder, with much more energy, and to recover faster between their games and training.
The anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits come from picking the olives before they ripen, when they still contain high levels of polyphenols.
Researchers from two Cyprus universities are launching clinical studies on the performance of Cypriot football players taking doses of high phenolic, with a view to adding to a growing body of evidence on its health potential.
They will also measure the benefits to gut microbiome.
This early-harvested olive oil contains 30 times more polyphenols than extra virgin olive oil, and 100 times more Oleocanthal. To keep those compounds intact, single-dose seaweed-based pods are used instead of bottles, in order to prevent oxidation and waste.
There is a tradition in the Mediterranean, especially in Greece and Cyprus, of producing some olive oil very early in the season and keeping it at home to be used as a medicine.
This practice, it appears, is thousands of years old!
It will be interesting to see to what extent this method of performance enhancement catches on with football players and others and what the anti-doping authorities will make of it.
Prof Dr Ian Blackshaw may be contacted by e-mail at ‘
