Athan Gadanidis

Aristoleo, GREECE

Athan Gadanidis returned to Greece when the health claim for polyphenols was approved in 2012 and a new method was developed to measure the polyphenols quickly and accurately using the NMR (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance) by Dr Prokopios Magiatis at the Univ of Athens. Athan created the Aristoleo website to disseminate the latest news on olive oil research and help market these exceptional early harvest olive oils rich in polyphenols internationally. He also founded the 6th annual Aristoleo Awards for high phenolic olive oils and table olives.

Athan has become a very vocal advocate for the full implementation of the health claim regulation and the establishment of this new category of extra virgin olive oil high in polyphenols. He helped establish the term “high phenolic EVOO” by using it in all his articles to describe it.

His articles on the subject of the health claim have been published in oliveoiltimes.com, huffingtonpost.com, aristoleo.com and Beyond Organic Beyond Extra Virgin magazine on Medium.com and syndicated globally.

His advocacy within Greece and in the EU Commission is helping to clarify and shape policy for the implementation of the 432/2012 health claim for polyphenols.

Athan was also instrumental in the development of handheld devices to measure polyphenols in olive oil such as the Aristoleo Test kit “lab in a vial”, and the Aristometro a handheld spectrometer.

He is currently focused on development of open source  blockchain application for olive growers to ensure the traceability, transparency, and guaranteed quality. This is part of a comprehensive marketing plan he is developing under the auspices of the EU funded ARISTOIL programme and World Olive Center for Health in Athens.

"It's imperative the olive growers organize and self regulate to ensure the quality of High phenolic EVOO. Consumers are not just buying it to add flavor to their meals they are buying it for serious health reasons. Research is indicating that high phenolic EVOO is somewhere in between a food and a medicine for conditions ranging from a long list of Cancers, to Autism, to Leukemia, and Alzheimers." 

Athan and his wife and business partner Marilyn Harding split their time living on the island of Aigina Greece, Nicosia Cyprus and Toronto Canada.