FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Olive Leaf Extract:

a.) Can I take Olive Leaf Extract on a permanent basis?

 Yes. Many adults take olive leaf extract permanently at a low dosage for  maintaining cardiovascular health for example, finding that it keeps their cholesterol and blood pressure at optimum levels.
Others find it is a good energy booster. We have had customers who take it at a low dosage (1-2  capsules a day or 5-10 drops a day) to keep sinusitis at bay, or while training for sports or body-building events to maintain a good defence against colds and 'flu while they pour their energy into training.
It can be taken throughout winter to lessen the chances of catching a cold or 'flu.
Others still find it helps relieve arthritic pain and inflammations.
Most people will use olive leaf as they need it, which may be for a day or week here and there and throughout winter.

 Olive leaf extract seems to do something for most people, and the older and more complicated your health issues the more it seems to offer benefit. Note: If you are on any medication, check with your doctor before taking olive leaf extract.

We do not believe children should take olive leaf extract permanently. The body has an amazing immune system which should be given the chance to develop to its fullest potential. Olive leaf extract has such effective antimicrobial properties that it may make the growing immune system lazy.
This is our opinion, not based on any research but on common sense. We do believe however that there is no point in allowing your child to get sick so they have to take powerful pharmaceutical drugs. It is far better to supplement with olive leaf extract when necessary - see "How to use" under "Product Info"

b.) Is olive leaf extract toxic? Can you take too much?

The short answer to the first question is no.

The olive tree is a special tree. Everything about it is good. It has provided a wonderful health-giving oil and food from the fruit since before man could write. The leaves have been used for centuries in teas and later tinctures to treat fevers and malaria. The amazing health benefits of the leaves are still being discovered and there are no recorded adverse effects to date.
It is significant in today's world that Olive trees are more resistant to diseases and insects than any other fruit tree (which is why their leaf properties were investigated) and, therefore, are sprayed less than any other crop. In fact some trees are claimed to be over two thousand years old and five hundred years is normal for a cultivated fruit-bearing olive tree. They are very hardy trees full of antioxidants which may help impart some of that longevity to you and I.
This also means that organic cultivation is more easily carried out and organic leaves more readily available. We make sure the leaves and concentrated extracts we use are of the best quality and are organically grown or have been tested for any residues.
Toxicity tests have been carried out on oleuropein, a major active ingredient of olive leaf revealing a toxicity level comparable to good quality drinking water. Other animal tests and laboratory experiments using human tissues showed olive leaf extracts to have no ill-effects on the cells tested.

In answer to the second question, it serves little purpose to take more than the maximum recommended dose as it will not have a significantly increased beneficial effect. A very large person may wish, after a week or more of use to increase their dosage over the maximum in proportion to their size but this should be for a larger frame size, not due to being overweight. If you mistakenly take a much larger dose it should not cause any problem, but for information see c.) and d.) below. The author has taken 80 drops of tincture on the hour for four hours with no ill effects.
Be more careful with children to give the correct dosage because the dosage seems so small and we tend to want to give them a dose that "looks" enough.

The maximum recommended dosages are safe to take over extended periods.

NOTE: Olive leaf extract does have a strong antimicrobial effect and while testing to date does not show any ill-effects towards friendly gut bacteria, it is probably a good idea to take a good quality probiotic supplement from time to time to ensure that you maintain a good intestinal balance. This would be more the case if taking capsules rather than the tincture. Small quantities of tincture taken in a little water would probably be absorbed before reaching your intestines so making this a non-issue.
We would especially recommend giving children the Kiddieforte (which they love) from our shop from time to time to ensure a healthy  gut ecosystem.

c.) Are there any contraindications?

Contraindications are theoretical as opposed to any actual findings.

As olive leaf extract has blood-pressure lowering properties, it may affect a person suffering from low blood pressure by lowering it further.

The effects of olive leaf extract on pregnant or breastfeeding women and their babies has not been investigated and usage under these circumstances should only be under the supervision of a healthcare professional or not at all.

If you have been taking olive leaf extract and then discover you are pregnant do not worry about it. Olives, which contain many of the plant substances contained in the leaves have been consumed for thousands of years without harm to mothers or mothers-to-be. However, our extracts are from the leaves and are very strong so you should discontinue use or refer to your normal healthcare professional for advice.

d.) Does olive leaf extract clash with any medication?

If taking high blood pressure medication, your doctor should first be consulted and then if permissible, you should start on small doses of olive leaf extract to gauge the adjunctive (additive) effect it has on the medicine. You may have to take less blood pressure medicine as you increase to a normal dose of olive leaf extract!

Olive leaf extract also has blood-sugar lowering properties which could potentially lower insulin dosage requirements in diabetics. Once again, your healthcare professional should be consulted.

 It may also lower blood test readings for calcium and glucose levels unless discontinued a few days before the test.

Some antibiotics are mould or fungus derivatives. Olive leaf could theoretically "attack" those antibiotics so reducing their effectiveness while being "used up" unprofitably. While on antibiotics, discontinue olive leaf extract unless you are taking it for heart health in which case, confirm with your doctor. 

e.) Is olive leaf extract best taken with or between meals?  

It is best taken between meals, as certain proteins in food, when broken down have been shown to reduce the effectiveness of the  oleuropein in olive leaf extract. It is partly for this reason that we make our capsules smaller (300mg) than some other manufacturers to enable smaller single-capsule doses to be taken. Smaller doses taken between meals can be as beneficial and easier on the stomach than very concentrated higher doses taken with or near mealtimes.

 We also mix our standardised, concentrated high-oleuropein olive leaf extract with raw olive leaves to achieve a better balance of the active ingredients. A positive spin-off of this is that the concentrate is quickly absorbed while the raw leaf takes longer for the digestive system to process. The overall result is a quick replenishment of olive leaf extract in the bloodstream by the concentrated extract followed by a more sustained release as the raw leaf is slowly digested. The beneficial effects of the olive leaf are thus sustained over a longer period of time giving you maximum advantage. This makes for better economy and best results. If you wanted to enhance this effect even more, you could divide your dose of olive leaf extract between the tincture and the capsules and take them together. The tincture absorbs almost immediately followed by the two-stage capsules. We have found this to be very effective, minimising the bitter taste while maximising the results especially when taken during illness.

f.) Which is better, the capsules or the tincture?

We favour the tincture for economy, (it's very well absorbed), quick results in stopping the progress of an infection, (almost immediately in the blood stream), and versatility (dosage can be fine-tuned to your need and it can be used beneficially for anything olive leaf extract works for).

The capsules are good for long-term use, some people can't get used to the taste of the tincture, and some people find them more convenient to carry with them than the tincture. It is largely a matter of preference. We have made the capsule dosages larger than the tincture dosages in terms of active ingredients to allow for the fact that the capsules may not be as fully absorbed as the tincture and are more dependent on the condition of your digestive tract.

See "how to use" under "product info" for more information.

g.) Does olive leaf extract kill probiotics, or beneficial gut bacteria?

We have tested our tincture on a culture of bifidobacterium longum, one of the more fragile beneficial gut bacteria. Two cultures of the bacterium were grown in an incubator, one containing Herbal Wellness International's olive leaf extract tincture and one without. Both cultures grew equally well, in fact the doctor who did the experiment said that if anything, the culture with the olive leaf extract grew better. This showed that our tincture did no harm to the probiotic. His opinion was that if it did not harm the bifidobacterium it would not harm the other less-fragile probiotics.
Dr. Voorhees, a naturopath described in Dr. Morton Walker's book Olive Leaf Extract, tested the effects of olive leaf extract on lactobacillus acidophilus, bulgaris and caucasus. He made yoghurt cultures using each of the friendly gut bacteria and included increasingly large doses of olive leaf powdered extract. The formation of the yoghurt was unaffected by the presence of the olive leaf extract. His conclusion was that olive leaf extract seems to have an affinity only for pathogens.  

Having said all this, we do host 400 to 500 different kinds of bacterium in our bodies, mainly in the gut, which translates into a whole ecosystem in there living in some kind of balance. Olive leaf extract does have a strong antimicrobial effect and while testing to date does not show any ill-effects towards friendly gut bacteria, it is probably a good idea to take a good quality probiotic supplement from time to time to ensure that you maintain a good intestinal balance. This would be more the case if taking capsules rather than the tincture. Small quantities of tincture taken in a little water would probably be absorbed before reaching your intestines so making this a non-issue.

h.) Why do we use alcohol in our tincture?

Our extraction technique uses ethanol derived from cane sugar, and purified water. Some components of olive leaf are water soluble and others are soluble in alcohol. Simply put, in order to make a comprehensive extract the leaves are chopped, crushed and soaked in a hydroethanolic solution to extract and dissolve all the compounds in the leaf. This is then processed together with our standardised powdered extract and filtered. The resulting tincture needs no other preservative, the ethanol being a natural preservative. In addition the leaf compounds continue to dissolve and distribute themselves evenly throughout the solution as it sits in bottles waiting to be sold. For our concentrated tincture, this works the best. When the olive leaf extract is taken, the alcohol may assist the dissolved ingredients to pass through cell walls into the bloodstream and cells where it is needed.

At the dosages given, very little alcohol is consumed - even for a child - Alcohol occurs in nature as fruits ferment etc. and small quantities are easily broken down in your body which is designed to cope with it. Benefits would be lost by using a water-only extraction and possibly a preservative would need to be added to ensure safety. Preservatives are not pathogen-specific and would do more harm to gut bacteria than the alcohol which would be absorbed all the way down to the stomach and not even reach the large intestine.
If alcohol is not desired, the capsules can be taken instead, for children opening them and mixing the olive leaf with a little honey.

i.) Do your olive leaf products contain yeasts, gluten or preservatives?

 No, our products contain no yeast, preservatives or gluten, animal products, colourants, flavourants, are not irradiated and are G.M. free.

j. Are there any side-effects when taking olive leaf extract?

There are no side-effects.

In a few cases there may be an initial reaction to olive leaf extract called Herxheimer's reaction. Owing to the rapid destruction of large numbers of harmful microbes, a worsening of symptoms or mild 'flu-like symptoms may occur for a few days while your body eliminates their toxic remains. This is called Herxheimer's reaction. If uncomfortable, reduce dosage or stop taking for a few days and increase water intake.
This is usually followed by a wonderful sense of well-being and added energy.