Benefits of EVOO in the prevention and fight against cancer
In recent years, a multitude of studies have been carried out that confirm the benefits of EVOO in the prevention and fight against cancer.
Virgin olive oil is a vegetable fat rich in oleic acid, a monounsaturated fatty acid, and numerous bioactive compounds such as vitamin E, beta-carotene and polyphenols. Both vitamin E and polyphenols provide its antioxidant properties, which act against aging and are involved in cell development, something that determines the formation and progression of cancer.
However, it should be pointed out that the statement that Olive Oil is antitumor is not correct… What is certain is that its consumption, within an adequate diet, has been associated with a lower risk of cancer, which is something totally different.
Just a few days ago, the University of Athens published an article stating that the consumption of Extra Virgin Olive Oil was associated with a 1/3 reduction in the possibility of suffering from any type of cancer: https://www.olimerca .com/noticiadet/olive-oil-reduces-by-a-third-the-risk-of-suffering-cancer/75a24ff12086a48b2e54fe6d5e9853af
Benefits of EVOO consumption in the two most widespread types of tumors among the population?
EVOO and breast cancer:
The consumption of olive oil in moderate amounts is associated with a greater benignity of breast tumors, decreasing the activity of the gene that favors uncontrolled proliferation and stimulates tumor growth.
Thus, olive oil reduces the activity of proteins involved in cell survival, favoring apoptosis -cell death- and thereby slowing down tumor growth.
EVOO and colorectal cancer:
Regarding the benefits of Extra Virgin Olive Oil on colorectal cancer, the latest studies carried out by the Department of Health Sciences of the University of Jaén (UJA) and the Center for Advanced Studies in Olive Groves and Olive Oil of the UJA have proven that diets high in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) fat cause a change in the intestinal bacterial flora related to the prevention of colorectal cancer.
Due to the increasing expansion of diets rich in fats such as sunflower oil and coconut oil, they wanted to compare these two oils with olive oil. As a result, it was concluded that the diet rich in EVOO produced a change in the intestinal bacterial flora associated with an anti-inflammatory microenvironment. In this sense, this effect supposes a protective factor so that colorectal cancer does not develop.
In contrast, those high-fat coconut oil and sunflower oil diets generated a pro-inflammatory gut microenvironment.
This research is important because EVOO is confirmed to be healthier for the intestinal bacterial flora than the other two types with which it has been compared, sunflower oil and coconut oil, on which there is no scientific evidence of its effect. healthy in food diets.
In conclusion, there are no scientific data that allow us to affirm that EVOO is an antitumor food. What is certain is that there is an association between oil consumption and a lower risk of cancer, and scientists are trying to demonstrate the mechanisms of action.
