The results of the study published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Oncology, have shown that an ingredient in extra virgin olive oil kills a variety of human cancer cells without harming healthy cells.
Extra-virgin olive oil contains oleocanthal, this ingredient is able to rupture a part of the cancerous cell, releasing enzymes that cause cell. In this way, cancer cells are killed by their own enzymes.
Oleocanthal is a name for a chemical in extra virgin olive oil that means ‘Stinging Oil Aldehyde’, and is made by the olive when it is crushed to make the pulp from which the oil is pressed.
Scientists knew that oleocanthal killed some cancer cells, but no one really understood how this occurred. Nutritional scientist Paul Breslin believed that oleocanthal might be targeting a key protein in cancer cells that triggers a programmed cell death. Together with biologist David Foster and chemist Onica LeGendre, the team started researching and testing Breslin’s theory.
“We needed to determine if oleocanthal was targeting that protein and causing the cells to die,” Breslin said.
After applying oleocanthal to the cancer cells, Foster and LeGendre discovered that the cancer cells were dying very quickly – within 30 minutes to an hour. Since programmed cell death takes between 16 and 24 hours, the scientists realized that something else had to be causing the cancer cells to break down and die.
The researchers found the answer to this occurrence, the cancer cells were being killed by their own enzymes.
“The oleocanthal was puncturing the vesicles inside the cancer cells that store the cell’s waste. These vesicles, known as lysosomes are larger in cancer cells than in healthy cells, and they contain a lot of waste. Once you open one of those things, all hell breaks loose.” – Breslin
But oleocanthal didn’t harm healthy cells, the researchers found. It merely stopped their life cycles temporarily – “put them to sleep,” Breslin said. After a day, the healthy cells resumed their cycles.
While the researchers are eager to take the study outside the lab and investigate the effectiveness of oleocanthal to kill cancer cells and tumors in living animals, this study confirms the anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory qualities of extra virgin olive oil.
Sources:
http://news.rutgers.edu/research-news/ingredient-olive-oil-looks-promising-fight-against-cancer/20150211#.V33W8bh97IW
http://www.oliveoiltimes.com/olive-oil-health-news/extra-virgin-olive-oil-oleocanthal-kills-cancer-cells/46659
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