Crucial Component In Extra Virgin Olive Oil Which Help Kill Cancer Cells

A new study has shown that an ingredient in extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) can actually kill cancer cells. The results of the study, which is published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Oncology, were made public early last year on January 23, 2015.

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 break of a part of the cancerous cell that releases enzymes and causes cell death, without harming healthy cells. ) When this happens, cancer cells are then killed by their own enzymes.

Oleocanthal is a name for a chemical in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) that means'aloe vera Aldehyde'," - Oleocanthal is made by the olive when it is crushed to make the pulp from which the oil is pressed upon.

In fact, there are a variety of substances in Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) that have a 6-carbon ring arrangement on them and together they are known as phenolics. These compounds when compound together are great antioxidants preventing oxygen pore-radicals from forming. Additionally they also tend to be anti-inflammatory. Oleocanthal has been demonstrated to interfere with procedures associated with:

An assortment of inflammations.

Alzheimer's disease.

And cancer formation and development.

The researchers discovered that oleocanthal caused cancer cells to break down and die almost instantly; within half an hour in fact, instead of the 16 to 24 hours it takes for programmed cell death, known as apoptosis. Although the scientists already suspected that oleocanthal can destroy cancer cells, this is the first time a study examined how this happens.

There are a variety of studies that reveal that oleocanthal can in fact interfere with cancer procedures and development pathways. It has also been shown in live animals that oleocanthal can induce tumors in mice. What is not known is whether these are all separate effects of oleocanthal on cancer or whether there is perhaps an upstream event that causes them.

We have what may be an upstream event that is a book phenomenon to be clarified in that we are opening up the lysosome using oleocanthal within the cell and releasing poisonous enzymes that kill the cell. This occurrence is called Lysosomal Membrane Permeabilization or LMP.

In their study, David Foster and Onica LeGendre focused on breast, pancreatic, and prostate gland cells and demonstrated they could be killed by LMP however they didn't kill three types of healthy non-cancerous cells.Researchers might like to take the study outside the lab and investigate the effectiveness of oleocanthal to kill cancer cells and tumors in living animals.

This research established the true correctness that the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and the benefits of diets rich in olive oil such as the Mediterranean diet into exceptional health.