Breast Cancer

A study published in The Archives of Internal Medicine (Archives of Internal Medicine 1998; 158: 41-45) found that women with a higher consumption of monounsaturated fat had a reduced incidence of developing breast cancer. The study, conducted at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, followed 61,471 women and found that those with the highest proportion of fat intake from monounsaturated fat in their diet were associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. Researchers suggested that women can increase their monounsaturated fat intake by replacing oils that are higher in polyunsaturated fat with oils that are rich in monounsaturated fat, such as olive oil.

Prostate Cancer

In a separate study, University of Buffalo researchers in New York provided evidence that B-sitosterol, a plant-based fat found in vegetable fats such as olive oil, may assist in inhibiting the growth of human prostate cancer cells. Researchers found that B-sitosterol enhances an intracellular signaling system that tells cells not to divide. They concluded that if cell growth can be stopped before it becomes uncontrolled, cancer may be contained.

A recent Oxford University study, meanwhile, suggested that olive oil can protect against bowel cancer.

Olive oil has a balanced polyunsaturated composition with a linoleic/linolenic acid ratio similar to that found in human milk. It is an adequate source of essential fatty acids that cannot be synthesized by the human body and therefore have to be supplied through a diet. These factors make olive oil highly suitable for breast-fed and weaned infants. It is also highly recommended for the elderly because it is palatable and digestible and aids in the assimilation of minerals and vitamins. It stimulates bone mineralization, thus preventing calcium loss.

Bowel Cancer

Recent research carried out by doctors at Oxford University has found that olive oil has protective benefits against bowel cancer. Doctors found that olive oil reacts with acid in the stomach to prevent the onset of bowel and rectum cancers. Research carried out in Spain on rats in 1999 also suggested that olive oil could protect against the disease.

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.

The Oxford researchers have also confirmed that intake of meat and vegetables can affect the risk factors.

They studied bowel cancer rates in 28 countries across the world, most of which were in Europe. However, rates of the disease in the UK, the USA, Brazil, Colombia, Canada and China were also examined. The researchers found that three dietary factors could affect a person's risks of developing the disease.

They suggested that people who ate a lot of meat and fish, as opposed to those who ate mostly vegetables and cereals, were at increased risk. They also found that a diet rich in olive oil was associated with a decreased risk.

This is because a high meat intake can increase the amount of a bile acid called deoxycyclic acid, which reduced the activity of an enzyme called diamine oxidase (DAO). DAO is thought to regulate the cell turnover in the bowel lining and reduced levels of this enzyme could be responsible for abnormal cell turnover.

But the Oxford researchers found the olive oil seemed to reduce the amount of bile acid and to increase DAO levels, thus protecting against abnormal cell growth and cancer.