Biologically active compounds in extra-virgin olive oil have the ability to shrink certain malignant breast tumors, recent research indicates.

The study, performed at the Catalan Institute of Oncology in Girona, Spain, and reported in the open-access journal BMC Cancer, focused on tumor tissue in laboratory culture that the researchers exposed to different fractions of extra-virgin olive oil containing various natural phytochemicals.

Some past studies have suggested that the olive-oil-rich Mediterranean diet prevents cancer, while other studies have not. So the scientists theorized that olive oil compounds kill only certain forms of breast cancer. What their research found, in fact, was that the olive-oil polyphenols known as secoiridoids and lignans are highly effective breast-cancer-cell fighters - but only against the 20 percent to 30 percent of breast cancers that express the so-called HER2 gene.

The study also found that when rats with induced breast cancers were fed large amounts of extra-virgin olive oil, their tumors' malignancy diminished.

"Our findings reveal for the first time that all the major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells," said Javier Menendez, who, along with Antonio Segura-Carretero from Spain's University of Granada, led the team of researchers who determined to investigate which parts of extra-virgin olive oil battle cancer best.

Extra-virgin olive oil comes from pressing olives in a cold state - without the use of heat or chemicals. It contains natural complex anti-cancer chemicals that the industrial refining process destroys.

Eating large quantities of such olive oil, however, likely won't prevent or cure breast cancer. The authors note that "The active phytochemicals exhibited tumoricidal effects against cultured breast cancer cells at concentrations that are unlikely to be achieved in real life by consuming olive oil."

Still, the scientists say, "These findings, together with the fact that that humans have safely been ingesting significant amounts of lignans and secoiridoids as long as they have been consuming olives and extra-virgin oil, strongly suggest that these polyphenols might provide an excellent and safe platform for the design of new anti breast-cancer drugs."

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Sources: http://www.webmd.com/breast-cancer/news/20081218/extra-virgin-olive-oil-evoo-vs-breast-cancer?src=RSS_PUBLIC

http://hamaraphotos.com/health/cancer/olive-oil-may-help-fight-cancer.html

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