The benefits of EVOO on World Cancer Day
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Today, February 4, World Cancer Day is celebrated and we want to highlight the benefits of extra virgin olive oil and its components in the fight against this disease.

Among the healthy eating patterns, the Mediterranean Diet is the one with the greatest scientific endorsement due to its healthy nature. Numerous studies confirm its benefits, which come from the synergy of the different foods that compose it. However, there is one above the others that is genuine and specific to this nutritional pattern: virgin olive oils, according to José J. Gaforio, professor of Immunology at the University of Jaén (UJA), in an article published in the Guide EVOOLEUM dedicated to the many health benefits of extra virgin olive oil.

The numerous studies that have been carried out in the last two decades by researchers around the world have coincided in highlighting its extraordinary healthy character, which is closely related to its peculiar composition. The majority presence of monounsaturated fatty acids, along with the abundance of minority components that give it its peculiar organoleptic characteristics, makes this food the center of the Mediterranean Diet. Within the latter, according to Gaforio, there are quite a few compounds that have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, so their consumption helps prevent pathologies in which oxidative stress and chronic inflammation are involved in their genesis.

Most of the studies that inquire about the impact of virgin olive oils on our health are carried out in the context of a Mediterranean Diet; However, there is enough evidence that allows assigning a specific role to this food in the prevention of certain pathologies.

In the case of cancer, it could be said that the regular and moderate consumption of virgin olive oils reduces the risk of suffering from different types of tumors, acting as a multifactorial mechanism: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-tumor effect - different molecules are found in its composition with antitumor capacity. However, according to Gaforio, it is still necessary to accumulate a greater number of evidences to establish this activity and to know what type of tumors its preventive effect would be beneficial.

Likewise, epidemiological studies agree that a diet, where virgin olive oils are the main source of fat, is associated with a chemopreventive effect. Studies carried out in animal models suggest the chemopreventive effect that the polyphenols in virgin olive oils specifically possess, and many in vitro studies are clarifying the mechanisms of action involved. However, the relevance of such data is often weakened by the use of non-physiological doses and concentrations. Although it is almost impossible to conduct human studies on the chemopreventive capacity of a single nutrient, the accumulated observations are strong enough to advise the consumption of virgin olive oils as the main source of fat in order to reduce the risk of cancer. This is reported in an article published in Nutrients , one of the leading international open access scientific journals, with the conclusions of the III International Congress on Virgin Olive Oil, Olivar y Salud, held in Jaén in May 2018, in which renowned experts prestige addressed the most recent research on the benefits of olive oil and its components.

At the beginning of 2019, we knew that the research group of the Clinical Management Unit of Medical Oncology of the University Hospital of Jaén , led by Dr. Sergio Granados, managed to identify chemopreventive properties in a component of extra virgin olive oil and olives from table called hydroxytyrosol. This finding makes this compound a candidate to be investigated as an alternative targeted therapy for triple negative breast cancer (CMTN), one of the most aggressive.

In turn, last year researchers from the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Jaén (UJA) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Olivar and Olive Oil of this educational center demonstrated that diets high in olive oil fat extra virgin cause a change in the intestinal bacterial flora that is related to the prevention of colorectal cancer.

In addition, recently, in a study to examine a Mediterranean Diet in relation to prostate cancer progression in men under active surveillance, researchers from the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas (USA) found that those with localized prostate cancer who more closely followed the key principles of this eating pattern, where EVOO plays a key role, they experienced a better evolution during the course of their disease.





Source: Mercacei



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