Extra Virgin Olive Oil May Help To Combat Breast Cancer

Very interesting....

Remember that in vitro means in a lab dish.

Thousands of things that are "anti cancer" in lab dishes have no effect in vivo (in people).

It's promising, and there is good data about olive oil and heart health, but I wouldn't expect olive oil to cure breast cancer, prevent a recurrence, or even necessarily slow down growth. If it did, no woman in Italy would have breast cancer.

FloridaLady, do you know of any organizations providing funding for us to do our own research? Like on the order of the millions of dollars it takes to do actual research?

I'd like to quit my day job and do research exposing the fraud of false cancer remedies.

Who funding our own research. WE ARE! It's called freedom and guess what we still are a free country!

Flalady

I wonder if cooking with olive oil makes a difference. I use alot in cooking, but the heat may break down whatever the good stuff is called. Good to know that it CAN help and yes, doing research is beneficial.

D

priz -

Our posts crossed!  What a coincidence! 

Phenols in Quality Olive Oil Suppress Breast Cancer Gene

WEDNESDAY, Dec. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Spanish researchers have identified anti-cancer chemicals in extra-virgin olive oil that may help explain the apparent link between eating an olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet and a reduced risk of breast cancer.

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Extra-virgin olive oil, which is produced by pressing olives without the use of heat or chemical treatments, contains phytochemicals that are otherwise lost in the refining process. The Spanish researchers separated extra-virgin olive oil into fractions and tested these against breast cancer cells in the lab. They found that all the fractions that contained major extra-virgin phytochemical polyphenols (lignans and secoiridoids) effectively inhibited the breast cancer gene HER2.

The study was published in current issue of BMC Cancer.

"Our findings reveal for the first time that all major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress overexpression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells," Javier Menendez, of the Catalan Institute of Oncology, said in a BioMed Central news release.

While the study results offer new insights into how extra-virgin olive oil may help reduce HER2 breast cancer risk, the findings must be viewed with caution.

"The active phytochemicals [i.e. lignans and secoiridoids] exhibited tumoricidal effects against cultured breast cancer cells at concentrations that are unlikely to be achieved in real life by consuming olive oil," the researchers noted.

However, they also said their findings, "together with the fact 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."

I am originally from Turkey and the Mediterranean dish has lots of cooking with olive oil. However due to the heat-intolerance of olive oil I cook my vegetables with canola oil and then after the vegetable is cooked I add the evoo.

Here is a classic recipe for green beans:

Place in the pan in the order below:

2 small packs of frozen green beans

1 whole onion(placed on top of the green beans)

1/2 can of chopped tomatoes

1 tsp sugar ( sorry .. yeah we add sugar while cooking veggies- not that much but it makes it a lot tasties and the kids love it too)

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup of canola oil

Add some water until you can see the water ( but not until it covers the beans)

After boiling, simmer for 30 minutes.

Add 1/4 cup olive oil

Remove the onion.

This dish is eaten cold as a side dish.. and we cook green beans, pinto beans, leeks and several other vegetables this way.

Enjoy !

I think EVOO is great but had avoided it in cooking and baking for the reasons cited previously. I just learned a neat tip from a dietician teaching a class at the Wellness Community--she said the best oil to use in cooking and baking is grapeseed oil--she said it was the highest oil in essential fatty acids and adds no taste to the finished product. She said it did not cost a lot, was available in many regular grocery stores and she used it in all of the recipes she demonstrated  that day...

Sunflower may not be the best choice as it has a high level of Omega 6 fatty acids. Polyunsaturated fats should be kept at lower levels than other more beneficial fats.

Canola is an excellent choice if you get the right kind. Look for expeller-pressed organic varieties. Trader Joes has this at a great price.

Re applesauce:  Why not make your own, using organically grown local apples?  This way you can limit (or omit) the sugar and can be asured there are no additives or preservatives.

Apples (over 1,000 varieties, I hear) are abundant in North America -- a great food, even if they don't really keep the doctor away!

Yes lindasa applesauce is very easy to make too and as you said you can put or or omit sugar or cinnumon etc..  Yummm and LJ13 it's true it's not a bad idea to buy organic.

FlaLady:  Go to the Healthy Recipes thread and check out the vinaigrette recipe I posted there.  You can add your own favourite ingredients or take out ones you don't like, for example extra garlic, onions, herbs etc.   I never, ever buy prepared salad dressing.

Linda

Yep, that's what I use for my vinaigrette!

I never buy salad dressings. They sneak all kinds of nasty things into them. The main thing you have to remember is to buy a really good quality olive oil and vinegar. If these are rancid, you will never get a good dressing. The vinegar is especially important because it can overpower a salad dressing. Vinegars come in all different types, balsamic, red wine, rice wine, etc. Keep trying different ones to taste. Use a proportion of 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar and you can't go wrong. From there you just add whatever you want, herbs, mustard etc. and of course minced garlic. There really is no need for a recipe, just add things you like to taste. You can pulverize it all in bullet blender or just shake it in a jar. I only make it as I need it. Olive oil will solidify in the fridge and vinegar needs to be kept refrigerated so it is best to mix just what you need. If you do not like garlic, you can always put a couple of cloves in the vinegar and flavor it instead of on the salad, but garlic is so good for you, try to eat as much as you can.

Sometimes I do not even use a salad dressing. I mashed up an avocado with some store bought fresh picodegallo and mixed it with fresh spinach for an easy and tasty spinach salad.

I also sometimes buy olive tapenade and use that as a salad dresssing. Trader Joes has a good variety of tapenades.

If you are in a resturant, just ask them to bring you vinegar and oil. Remember the ratio and put the oil and then the vinegar.