Use crude olive leaf juice as a natural antioxidant for the stability of sunflower oil during heating

Olive leaves (Kronakii cultivar) were obtained from the annual pruning of olive trees and pressed to obtain a crude juice. Aliquots from the concentrated crude olive leaf juice, representing 400, 800, 1600 and 2400 ppm as polyphenols, were added to sunflower oil. Samples of sunflower oil mixed with olive leaf juice were heated intermittently at 180 +/- 5 degrees C for 5 h day(-1) and the heating process was repeated for five consecutive days. A control experiment was performed where butylated hydroxyl toluene (BHT) at 200 ppm was added to sunflower oil prior to intermittent heating in order to compare the antioxidant efficiency between the natural polyphenolics of olive leaf juice and synthetic antioxidant BHT. Some physical and chemical constants for the unheated and heated sunflower oil were determined. The data indicate that the addition of olive leaf juice to sunflower oil heated at 180 degrees C induced remarkable antioxidant activity and at 800 ppm level was superior to that of BHT in increasing sunflower oil stability.