Glynda, good morning. Many of those statements were made because of one company's attempts to sell their own extract. Yes, I noticed while reviewing your latest article that you sent me yesterday, that there has been quite a bit of controversy about Olive Leaf Extract. For those of you unfamiliar with the benefits of Olive Leaf Extract, you can click here to read more. Oleuropein, when ingested, converts to elenolic acid.
Elenolic acid is very virucidal.
So it's not the oleuropein, but its conversion to elenolic acid that does the work. Once converted, elenolic acid turns, automatically, into predominately right-handed elenolic acid. Oleuropein is just the carrier for the active ingredient elenolic acid. Elenolic acid is only converted in a lab setting when it is combined with mineral acids like hydrochloric acid. Then it has to be heated up or boiled to a certain degree for it to combine.