Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012 , 13 , 3291-3340; doi:10.3390/ijms13033291 OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Molecular Sciences ISSN 1422-0067 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijms Review Valuable Nutrients and Functional Bioactives in Different Parts of Olive ( Olea europaea L.)—A Review Rahele Ghanbari 1, Farooq Anwar 2,*, Khalid M. Alkharfy 3, Anwarul-Hassan Gilani 3,4 and Nazamid Saari 1,* 1 Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia; E-Mail:
[email protected] 2 Department of Chemistry, University of Sargodha, Sargodha-40100, Pakistan 3 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; E-Mail:
[email protected] 4 Natural Products Research Division, Department of Biologicaland Biomedical Sciences, Aga Khan University Medical College, Karachi 74800, Pakistan; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mails:
[email protected] (F.A.);
[email protected] (N.S.); Tel.: +92-48-9230546 (F.A.); +60-3-89468385 (N.S.); Fax: +92-48-3222121 (F.A.); +60-3-8942552 (N.S.). Received: 21 December 2011; in revised form: 13 February 2012 / Accepted: 16 February 2012 / Published: 12 March 2012 Abstract: The Olive tree ( Olea europaea L.), a native of the Mediterranean basin and parts of Asia, is now widely cultivated in many other parts of the world for production of olive oil and table olives. Olive is a rich source of valuable nutrients and bioactives of medicinal and therapeutic interest. Olive fruit contains appreciable concentration, 1–3% of fresh pulp weight, of hydrophilic (phenolic acids, phenolic alchohols, flavonoids and secoiridoids) and lipophilic (cresols) phenolic compounds that are known to possess multiple biological activities such as antioxidant, anticarcinogenic, antiinflammatory, antimicrobial, antihypertensive, antidyslipidemic, cardiotonic, laxative, and antiplatelet.