Determination and Quantification of Carotenoids in EVOOs the Province of Messina Italy 1

Introduction Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is one of the most representative food of Mediterranean diet (1-2) for its high nutritional value. The beneficial effects of EVOO on human health are related to its characteristic composition in fatty acids and minor components (1-2%), such as squalene and phytosterols, aldehydes, polyphenols, pigments, vitamins, minerals, etc. (37). The first high performance liquid chromatographic studies on the pigments fraction of monovarietal virgin olive oils from some Spanish cultivar were done by Minguez-Mosquera, Gandul-Rojas and Gallardo-Guerrero (8-9), cultivar Greek (10), cultivar Italian (4-5-11-12) and cultivar Tunisian (13), have been reported. With the aim to increase the database on monovarietal virgin olive oils composition, which are oils obtained only by mechanical pressure of olives of a single variety, it is important to increase the number of studies. Chlorophylls and derivatives have a pro-oxidant effect in the presence of light, since transfer the energy of light and oxygen to the molecules, triggering the processes of oxidation, while the dark act as antioxidants. Carotenoids are characterized by the presence of more isoprene groups, their color varies from yellow to orange to red-purple. The most common are the α-, the βand γ-carotene and are also called pro-vitamin A as precursors of the same, and so have an important nutritional value. Beside the carotenoids may consider other pigments related to them, such as lutein, violaxanthin and neoxanthin. In the maturation of the drupe succeed numerous