Reuters
Jan. 25, 2001

Olive Oil, Cancer Killer
It May Help Prevent Colon Cancer, Spanish Scientists Say

L O N D O N, Jan. 25 — Spanish scientists added further weight to the growing body of evidence about the benefits of olive oil today with new research showing it may help to prevent colon cancer.

Researchers at University Hospital Germans Trias Pujol in Barcelona compared the benefits of olive oil, a staple of the Mediterranean diet, with safflower and fish oil on rats to determine if the type, and not just the
amount, of fat in the diet had an impact on tumor growth.

Prevents Cancer in Rats
"This study provides evidence that a five percent fat diet containing olive oil as compared with a five percent safflower oil diet prevents colonic carcinogenesis in rats, as occurs with five percent fish oil diets," Professor Miguel Gassul and his colleagues reported in the journal Gut.

The researchers divided 100 rats into three groups and fed them a diet rich in olive, safflower or fish oil. Each group was divided into two and half of the animals received a cancer-causing agent. Nineteen weeks after the start of the experiment, the researchers examined the animals for early signs of cancer. They found that the rats on the olive oil diet had less precancerous tissue and fewer tumors than the animals fed the other oils.

Gassull and his team said both the olive and fish oil diets reduced the amount of a chemical called arachidonate, which when combined with a substance called prostaglandin E can promote cancer. The researchers believe constituents of olive oil such as flavonoids, squalene and polyphenols may help to protect against cancer. Flavonoids and polyphenols are antioxidants which help prevent cell damage from oxygen-containing chemicals called free radicals. The scientists called for further studies to substantiate their findings.