Sterols, fatty alcohols, and triterpenic alcohols in commercial table olives

This work supplies information on the lipids, unsaponifiable matter, sterols, and fatty and triterpenic alcohols in table olives. The mean lipid contents, unsaponifiable values, concentration of sterols and total alcohols (aliphatic and triterpenic alcohols) were 16.15 g/100 g edible portion (e.p.), 4.53 g/100 g lipid, 28.68 mg/100 g e.p. and 13.28 mg/100 g e.p., respectively. The overall mean content of cholesterol was 0.5 mg/100 g e.p., with a minimum of 0.08 mg/100 g e.p. in Manzanilla olives stuffed with piquillo pepper, and a maximum of 4.9 mg/100 g e.p. in Manzanilla olives stuffed with marinated anchovy strips. Table olives contain higher concentrations of phytosterols than olive oil. The chemometric analysis showed that lipids, unsaponifiable matter, sterols, and fatty and triterpenic alcohol contents in table olives were slightly affected by processing and that some misclassification was possibly related to maturation. There were also noticeable differences between cultivars.