Properties of lignin, cellulose, and hemicelluloses isolated from olive cake and olive stones: binding of water, oil, bile acids, and glucose.

A process based on a steam explosion pretreatment and alkali solution post-treatment was applied to fractionate olive stones (whole and fragmented, without seeds) and olive cake into their main constitutive polymers of cellulose (C), hemicelluloses (H), and lignin (L) under optimal conditions for each fraction according to earlier works. The chemical characterization (chromatographic method and UV and IR spectroscopy) and the functional properties (water- and oil-holding capacities, bile acid binding, and glucose retardation index) of each fraction were analyzed. The in vitro studies showed a substantial bile acid binding activity in the fraction containing lignin from olive stones (L) and the alkaline extractable fraction from olive cake (Lp). Lignin bound significantly more bile acid than any other fraction and an amount similar to that bound by cholestyramine (a cholesterol-lowering, bile acid-binding drug), especially when cholic acid (CA) was tested. These results highlight the health-promoting potential of lignin from olive stones and olive cake extracted from olive byproducts.