In June 2025, an international consortium of scientists led by Professor Emeritus of the International Hellenic University (IHU) and Honorary Member of the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS Fellow - USA) Mr. Apostolos Kiritsakis, published in the international scientific journal Journal of Food Bioactives the impressive results of the pioneering study, under the general title "Quantification of 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB) in olive oil: a rapid and novel method".
Until now, no method had been published that could reliably determine in lab the concentrations of this substance in extra virgin olive oil. As the researchers note, this is the first time that the presence of the DMB component in olive oil has been confirmed in the laboratory, based on a reliable scientific method, and its values have been determined with impressive results.
(Apostolos Kyritsakis)
This research also provided a definitive answer to the main question of the global scientific community of olive oil: whether the bioactive substance DMB actually exists in olive oil.
Based on the above publication, the well-known INFORM magazine of the American Oil Chemists' Society (AOCS), in its October 2025 issue, in a special article entitled "Scientists study a valuable ingredient in olive oil", where special and extensive reference is made to the DMB compound and its role in human health.
(Tassos Kyriakidis)
There, special mention was made of the scientific team that identified this component, led by Professor Emeritus of the IHU, Mr. Apostolos Kyritsakis, Professor Mr. Ahmet Ceyhan Goren of the University of Istanbul, Assistant Professor of School of Public Health of Yale University, Mr. Tassos Kyriakides, as well as the contribution and pivotal role of Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms in this discovery.
In continuation, Tassos Kyriakides, assistant professor at the School of Public Health of Yale University in the USA, as well as the scientific team of Mr. Apostolos Kiritsakis and Nikos Sakellaropoulos, are starting a new collaboration to investigate the role of the substance DMB (3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol) which was recently identified in olive oil, and mainly the way it acts against inflammation, cardiac and neurodegenerative diseases, especially Alzheimer's, in the human body.
(Nikos Sakellaropoulos)
The title of this research effort is "DMB, Gut Microbiota and Heart Health", while the main focus of the research is the role of 3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol (DMB) from extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) in inhibiting the production of trimethylamine (TMA) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) by the intestinal microbiota.
This is the first organized scientific effort focused on this new compound (DMB), opening new avenues to study its role as well as other bioactive - beneficial components of olive oil in human health.
Research to date has shown that the bioactive substance DMB has a positive effect against the harmful compounds trimethylamine (TMA) and trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO), compounds that are associated with the induction of atherosclerosis, the appearance of inflammation in various cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases..
Specifically, the harmful substance TMAO is a metabolite that depends on the intestinal microflora, is associated with inflammatory diseases, whose immunological processes reflect those of rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
Professor of the School of Public Health of Yale University, Mr. Kyriakides, characterizes the substance DMB as very important and believes that it affects inflammation and consequently cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. He states: "The first goal of the laboratory research is to examine how DMB affects certain cell lines and the course of cardiovascular and other diseases related to inflammation. We will start from the cells found in the intestinal microbiome to determine to what extent DMB acts positively on the microbiome and prevents the creation of the undesirable substance TMA, as its inhibitor. Essentially, a scientific detection will be carried out on the cell lines to see which ones will benefit from DMB and then clinical studies will follow. Personally, I believe that there is a serious possibility of the health-protective substance DMB also affecting immune problems, because inflammation is also related to the immune system. For this reason, we will "screen" bacteria in the intestinal microbiota because each bacterium has a specific mission. If we find the targets of the bacteria, the picture will become clearer and there will be the corresponding scientific announcements."
Professor Emeritus of the International Hellenic University, Mr. Kiritsakis, states that he is optimistic about the expected results of the planned study and believes that DMB will open new horizons for this bioactive component of olive oil and will be the springboard for new research and discoveries, as has been done so far with phenols and other microcomponents.
A Memorandum of Understanding has already been signed for this new research and study, while this synergy with Mr. Kyriakides of School of Public Health of Yale University and Professor Emeritus of the International Hellenic University, Mr. Kiritsakis, is based on the fact that in the initial publication, the olive oils by Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms showed systematically high concentrations of DMB.
"Scientific research on the benefits of our olive products, in collaboration with university institutions, Schools of Public Health and researchers from Medical Schools, such as Harvard, Yale, Temple and Auburn in the USA, as well as the Department of Pharmacy of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, is at the core of Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms," said production manager and chemical engineer M.Sc. Nikos Sakellaropoulos. "Having already participated in the group of scientists from many countries that published for the first time the new and innovative method for measuring DMB in olive oil, we are starting this collaboration with the aim of highlighting the benefits of the bioactive substance DMB on human health. It is a special honor for us to participate in this type of research, the results of which can improve people's health and consequently their quality of life."
He also noted that: "The samples of extra virgin olive oils with the highest concentrations, among those analyzed in the laboratory during the discovery of the method for determining the bioactive substance DMB, come exclusively from Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms. More specifically, the next studies and research will focus on the multi-varietal olive oil Plus Health DMB EVOO from our organic farms, in which high concentrations of the substance DMB were detected."
The first results of the studies are not expected before the spring of 2026, said professor of Yale School of Public Health, Dr. Tassos Kyriakides. "After we discover the exact mechanism of DMB's function as an inhibitor of the harmful compounds TMA and TMAO, we will then move on to specialized clinical studies. Of course, the results are what will determine the course of the research, as well as the further development regarding the benefits for human health."
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