Olive leaf: From tradition to clinic

Olive (Olea europaea from the Oleaceae family) leaves have had a lot of medicinal applications in traditional and modern medicine. In traditional persian medicine (TPM), it is used as an antiperspirant, has special indications for wound healing and its ash is also used in ophthalmic traditional remedies. Literature survey was performed via electronic search in Pubmed, Scopus and Siencedirect. We found 275 articles related to the topic. Conventional pharmacy texts including Martindale, British pharmacopoeia and Lexi natural products as well as TPM texts were reviewed. Our results showed that olive leaf has antioxidant, antitoxic and anticancer properties. It also has antimicrobial and antiviral effects as well as effects on the nervous, endocrine, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular system. It has therapeutic effects on some metabolic disorders and cutaneous complications and some miscellaneous effects such as anti-arthritis and anti-bone loss activity. Despite the large amount of studies having been done on the possible effects of olive leaf, the number of available products and their therapeutic targets are limited. More extensive studies as clinical trials are expected to be done on olive leaf and considering its dose adjustments and special cautions, it can become a more popular herbal medicine in markets and clinics.