Abstract
Recently the use of food by-products as natural sources of biologically active substances has been extensively investigated especially for the development of functional foods fortified with natural antioxidants. Due to their content of bioactive compounds, such as carotenoids, flavonoids and limonoids, citrus peels could be suitable to formulate enriched olive oils able to boost healthy nutrition. The aim of this study was: (i) to determine the compositional and sensory profiles of citrus olive oil; and (ii) to evaluate its nutraceutical properties in rats with high fat diet-induced metabolic syndrome and oxidative stress. The results obtained show the potential of using citrus peels as a source of bioactive compounds to improve the sensory profile as well as the phytochemical composition of olive oil. We demonstrated that the production system of Citrus x aurantium olive oil and Citrus limon olive oil improves its organoleptic properties without altering its beneficial effects, which, like control extra virgin olive oil, showed protective effects relating to glucose and serum lipid levels, metabolic activity of adipocytes, myocardial tissue functionality, oxidative stress markers and endothelial function at blood vessel level.