ABSTRACT
Natural antioxidants present in the diet increase the resistance toward damages due to oxidation and may have a substantial impact on human health. Dietary antioxidants include ascorbate, tocopherols, carotenoids, and bioactive plant phenols (Boskou, 2006). Widely distributed in the plant kingdom and abundant in our diet, today plant phenols are among the most talked about classes of phytochemicals (Boskou, 2006); the benecial health effect of the Mediterranean diet has been partly ascribed to the presence of these compounds. In fact, the high content of vegetables, fruits, cereals, wine, and olive oil, typical of the Mediterranean diet, has been associated with a lower risk of coronary heart disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and cancer (Keys, 1995; Owen et al., 2000a; Visioli et al., 2000; Harwood and Yaqoob, 2002; Huxley and Neil, 2003; Visioli et al., 2004; Arts and Hollman, 2005).
