Olive oil 'can cut cancer risk'

Adding plenty of olive oil to a diet could help protect against cell damage that can lead to cancer, experts say.

A study of 182 European men found those who had 25 millilitres of olive oil per day had reduced levels of a substance which indicates cell damage.

The Danish team said it may explain why many cancer rates are higher in northern Europe than the south, where olive oil is a major part of the diet.

The study is in the Federation American Societies for Experimental Biology.

Olive oil's heart effect located

Scientists say they have pinpointed the micronutrients in olive oil that make it a good heart protector.

Mediterranean diets have long been hailed as cutting heart attack risk.

A team of Spanish researchers believes this is partly down to compounds called phenols that have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and clot-preventing powers.

Virgin or extra virgin olive oils are best because they have the highest phenol content, the Journal of the American College of Cardiology reports.

Source: BBC News

Olive oil 'acts like painkiller'

Good quality olive oil contains a natural chemical that acts in a similar way to a painkiller, a US study says.

Researchers found 50g of extra-virgin olive oil was equivalent to about a tenth of a dose of ibuprofen.

A Monell Chemical Senses Centre team in Philadelphia said an ingredient in the oil acted as an anti-inflammatory, the Nature journal reported.

The team said while the effect was not strong enough to cure headaches, it may explain the Mediterranean diet benefit.

Source - BBC News

Olive oil acid 'cuts cancer risk'

Scientists in Chicago say they have uncovered why a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil seems to cut the risk of developing breast cancer.

The key is an ingredient of olive oil called oleic acid, they say.

Northwestern University laboratory tests on breast cancer cells showed the acid sharply cut levels of a gene thought to trigger the disease.

Cancer charities said the study, in Annals of Oncology, was interesting, but more research was needed.

Source BBC News

Scientists hail healthy olive oil

Scientists from all over the world are meeting in southern Spain for the first international conference on olive oil and health.

The Mediterranean diet is famous for its richness, in taste and in vitamins: fresh vegetables, fish, a glass or two of red wine and of course, olive oil.

"Olive oil and wine - healthy and divine," says a famous Spanish proverb.

Spaniards are indeed three times less likely than northern Europeans to contract heart disease.
They think it is largely thanks to their olives.

But new studies show that olive oil has an even healthier allure.

It promotes strong bone development, helps to prevent colon and breast cancer, Alzheimer's and other aging diseases.

More than 300 scientists from the world over are attending the conference in Jaen, the centre of Spain's oil production, to compare notes, in the hope of persuading their respective governments to invest more money in olive oil medical research.

Source BBC News

Mediterranean diet 'extends life'

Drinking red wine and cooking with olive oil may help us to live longer, say scientists.

They have found that key ingredients in both substances can significantly increase the lifespan of yeast.

Since yeast and humans share many genes, scientists have speculated they may have the same effect in people.

The findings provide more evidence to suggest that the Mediterranean diet may be the secret to living a long and healthy life.

Source BBC News

Cooking oil 'fights fat'

Volunteers fed a diet containing a particular blend of oils actually lost weight and fat, according to researchers.

Over a 27-day period, male volunteers, despite eating the same quantity of oil as others given conventional cooking oil, lost an average of one pound.

Women did not fare as well - none lost any weight.

The researchers, from McGill School of Dietetics in Montreal, Canada, say that their blend of oils is sent straight to the liver and burned up.

The ingredients of this oil are mostly "tropical oils" such as palm oil and coconut oil, with some olive oil and flaxseed oil.

The results of the study are published in four scientific journals.

The oil has been developed by Forbes Medi-Tech, which funded the study, but the oil is unlikely to hit supermarket shelves before further tests are carried out.

While conventional oils contain fats called "long chain triglycerides", "functional oil", as it has been dubbed, contains different fats called "medium chain triglycerides".

Source BBC News

Olive oil 'protects against bowel cancer'

Evidence is growing that olive oil can protect against bowel cancer.

Research carried out by doctors at Oxford University has found that olive oil has protective benefits.

They found that it reacts with acid in the stomach to prevent the onset of bowel and rectum cancers.

Bowel cancer is the second-most common cancer in the UK and kills nearly 20,000 people every year. However, if it is diagnosed early it is easily treatable.

Research carried out in Spain on rats last year also suggested that olive oil could protect against the disease.

Source BBC News

Olive oil 'wards off skin cancer'

Scientists have uncovered a new weapon in the fight against skin cancer - olive oil.

Japanese researchers have found that applying high quality olive oil to the skin after sunbathing reduces the risk of developing tumours.

The theory was tested on genetically modified hairless mice.

The researchers found that high-grade, virgin olive oil smeared on the skin delayed the appearance of tumours and reduced their size.

However, Dr Kate Law from The Cancer Research Campaign said, "to suggest you can go out in the sun and frazzle, and then undo some of the damage using olive oil does not seem terribly scientific to me".

Source BBC News

Olive oil 'reduces cancer risk'

Using olive oil in cooking may prevent the development of bowel cancer, research shows.

Writing in the medical journal Gut, a team from Barcelona say their findings suggest that olive oil may have some protective qualities. Their findings may explain why a Mediterranean diet appears to be so healthy. The researcher was carried out on rats who were fed a diet rich in olive, fish, or safflower oil. Each group was then divided into two and half of the animals were given a cancer-causing agent. Four months later the researchers found those rats on the olive oil diet had less pre-cancerous tissue and fewer tumours than those fed the other oils.

Source BBC News