Could REAL Olive Oil Help Fight Cancer? (And some olive oil can actually be harmful…)

All around us these days we're either hearing of something that causes cancer (doesn't everything?) or the latest greatest thing that can fight cancer.  However, isn't it fun finding out that something you may already be eating can have benefits even beyond the ones we already knew of?

I've told you before about the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits in real extra virgin olive oil (and what disease isn't linked to inflammation?!):

The phenol levels are what determine the potency of the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects in olive oil.  If the phenol level is too high, it'll taste very bitter.  If it's too low, there will be no health benefits. 

This is the olive oil I love, the taste has a nice zing at the back of your throat, this is the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory component and it’s the reason for all the health benefits, yet it still tastes wonderful!

Before we go further, this is important:  Some olive oil can actually be harmful…

You can't just assume that any old olive oil off the shelf in your grocery store will have health benefits.  Most companies cut it with cheaper heart-killer vegetable oils to save money, so not only is it not beneficial, but it's bad for your health.  (Know Your Olive Oil Source: Popular Companies Sued for Deceptive Labels.)  Store-bought oils are pooled all together from dozens, even hundreds of sources with unknown quality or growing practices, then it's refined and deodorized so it has a consistent, blah taste.  This organic EVOO is a single estate oil, and you know it's organically grown and cultivated, with proper pruning, picking, pressing, and storage, these are all critical factors for nutrition and taste.  

Click here for where to get my favorite olive oil.

Could REAL Olive Oil Help Fight Cancer?

Now we're learning that even beyond the anti-inflammatory components in real EVOO, there are also cancer fighting components:

The researchers, nutritional scientist Paul Breslin (Rutgers University), biologist David Foster (Hunter College) and chemist Onica LeGendre (Hunter College) discovered in a lab study that the ingredient, called oleocanthal, causes a rupture of a part of the cancerous cell which releases enzymes and causes cell death, without harming healthy cells. In this way, cancer cells are killed by their own enzymes.

“Oleocanthal is a name for a chemical in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) that means ‘Stinging Oil Aldehyde’,” Paul Breslin told Olive Oil Times. “It is made by the olive when it is crushed to make the pulp from which the oil is pressed.”

“There are many compounds in EVOO that have a 6-carbon ring structure on them and collectively they are known as phenolics,” Breslin added. “These compounds are collectively good anti-oxidants preventing oxygen pore-radicals from forming and they also tend to be anti-inflammatory. Oleocanthal has been shown to interfere with processes associated with many types of inflammation, Alzheimer’s disease, and cancer formation and growth.”   (Read the rest here.)

However…

The study isn’t without its limits. Cell cultures provide a reliable model for understanding how an external substance affects a new biological environment, but cells aren’t as complex as rats, which aren’t as complex as humans. It will still be years before oleocanthal makes its way into a clinical setting.  (Read the rest here.)

So it's not like this is an overnight miracle cancer cure, not yet anyway (and Big Pharma would sure hate that wouldn't they?), but as I said, we already know the anti-inflammatory components, and the MANY resulting health benefits just from that, plus it tastes great, and I know I'm getting the real thing, so why not eat more of it?  And if it may have some affect on cancer, or decrease our chances of getting it in the first place, even better.

Increased demand will be pushing up prices

Italy and Spain are experiencing major shortages–Both countries are dealing with drought and still trying to recover from losing millions of olive trees to disease last year…  In the meantime, where are they getting oil to sell when the largest producers have been hit so hard?  I'm suspicious to say the least!  Are they slipping in more of the low-cost and much inferior vegetable oils?

Get REAL organic extra virgin olive oil: Click here for where to get my favorite olive oil.

Related posts and info:

• Olive Oil vs Canola Oil Smackdown
• OOO is delicious on your salads, in your pesto, or as a dipper for your sourdough bread!  Have you seen my roasted veggie recipes using olive oil?  Brussels Sprouts, Roasted Cauliflower (or Asparagus), & Roasted Potatoes
• By the way, here's a book about the olive oil mafia, it reads like a mystery novel:  Extra Virginity.  It'll make you even more intent on knowing your source.

• Olive Oil Comparison and the Olive Oil Mafia — Be Aware of the Extensive Lies and Corruption

Read more about healthy fats here.

photo credit, Creative Commons 2.0