48 Phytochemicals in Mediterranean Diet: The Interaction Between Tomato and Olive Oil Bioactive Compounds Rita Pernice, Paola Vitaglione, Raffaele Sacchi, and Vincenzo Fogliano Dipartimento di Scienza degli Alimenti, Universita ` di Napoli “Federico II” Parco Gussone, Ed. 84-80055 Portici (NA), Italy 48.1 Introduction 53 48.2 Tomato and Olive Oil Phytochemicals 56 48.3 Physiological Effects 58 48.4 Conclusions 60 References 61 48.1 INTRODUCTION The word “phytochemicals” is commonly used to indicate thousands of chemically different natural metabolites used in medicine and food preparations (Table 48.1). Natural medicines have been used from the infancy of human history for their 53 Handbook of Food Products Manufacturing. By Y. H. Hui Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.