Olive Oil Could Suppress Breast Cancer Gene

Something we use in our everyday cooking could unlock the key to suppressing the breast cancer gene. Chemicals have been identified in extra-virgin olive oil that could help explain the apparent link between eating an olive oil-rich Mediterranean diet and the reduced risk of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a reality for 1 out of every 8 women in the United States. It is the leading killer of women after lung cancer.  In 2008, there were estimated to be 182,460 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in women in the U.S., along with 67,770 new cases of non-invasive breast cancer. There will be approximately 1,990 new cases of invasive breast cancer diagnosed in men during that same year. (Less than 1% of breast cancers actually occur in men.)

Besides skin cancer, breast cancer is the most commonly cancer diagnosed among women in the U.S. More than 1 in 4 cancers diagnosed in women are breast cancer. However, as of 2008, approximately 2.5 million women in the United States alone have survived breast cancer.

Extra-virgin olive oil, which is produced by pressing the olives without the use of any chemical or heat treatments, contains phytochemicals that are otherwise lost in the refining process. The Spanish researchers conducting the study, which was published in the current issue of BMC Cancer, separated the extra-virgin olive oil into fractions and then they tested these against breast cancer cells in the laboratory. The researchers found that all of the fractions that contained major extra-virgin phytochemicals polyphenols (lignans and secoiridoids) very effectively inhibited the breast cancer gene called HER2.

Javier Menendez, who is from the Catalan Institute of Oncology, said, “Our findings reveal for the first time that all major complex phenols present in extra-virgin olive oil drastically suppress over expression of the cancer gene HER2 in human breast cancer cells.”

While the results of the study do offer new insights into how extra-virgin olive oil may help reduce HER2 breast cancer risk, they must be reviewed with caution. The researchers noted that while the active phytochemicals exhibited tumoricidal effects against the cultured breast cancer cells it was done by concentrations that are unlikely to be achieved in real life by just consuming olive oil. However, they also said that 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.”