Olive Oil May Prevent Breast Cancer, Study Shows

WASHINGTON (AP)--Scientists have long been aware that Mediterranean women develop breast cancer at one-half to 60 percent the rate of American women. Now they say the reason may be the use of olive oil.

A new study "gives additional momentum" to findings in animal tests that olive oil, alone among fat types, helps protect against breast cancer, said Dr. Dimitrios Trichopoulos of the Harvard School of Public Health, author of the study.

He doesn't want to sound alarmist. "We should be a little more careful in advising women what to do unless we are first absolutely convinced," he said in an interview Tuesday. "We are not at that stage yet."

But, he said, the findings provide "an explanation for the paradox that Mediterranean women consume plenty of fats, and yet they have only 50 or 60 percent of the risk of breast cancer, compared with other women."

The researchers analyzed questionnaires administered to 820 women newly diagnosed with breast cancer and an additional 1548 cancer-free women whose age and area of residence paralleled those of the women with the disease. All the women were in Greece, where olive oil is widely used in cooking.

The researchers found that women who consumed olive oil more than once a day had a 25 percent lower risk of cancer when compared to women who ate olive oil less frequently.

Trichopoulos said part of the reason olive oil is better for the body is that it is less easily oxidized than polyunsaturated fats and contains plenty of antioxidant vitamins and other components including Vitamin E. He was quick to add: "We don't know whether this factor or another, as yet unidentified factor, is essential."

The analysis, published in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said the data came from one of the largest studies that has examined the role of diet in the cause and origins of breast cancer.

A number of studies, including the new one, show that vegetables and fruits protect from cancer of various types.

"Rather than feeling hopeless against these cancers, at least we do know vegetables and fruits in this order and vegetables prepared in olive oil may actually provide an easy and rather pleasant way of reducing risk," Trichopoulos said.

According to the study, vegetable consumption statistically reduced breast cancer risk by 12 percent and fruits by eight percent.

Breast cancer is a major and rising problem around the world and particularly in this country, where one in 10 women can expect to develop the disease late in life.

"There are very few things a woman can actually do to reduce her risk," he said.

"To be able to point out that there may be a dietary regime that is associated with reduced risk, assuming this is further confirmed, makes sense," Trichopoulos said.

"In this case there is a lifestyle which is associated with reduced risk of breast cancer and is really linked to a type of diet which is not all that unpleasant to begin with," he said.

Tricnopoulos is a professor of epidemiology.

He was asked whether eschewing such as margarine and turning to olive oil could be recommended on the basis that it can't hurt.

Not only that, he said, "it could even protect you from coronary artery disease because we know that olive oil and vegetables and fruits are good for coronary disease, which is more of a killer than breast cancer.

The analysis, published in this week's Journal of the National Cancer Institute, said the data came from one of the largest studies that has examined the role of diet in the cause and origins of breast cancer.

A number of studies, including the new one, show that vegetables and fruits protect from cancer of various types.

"Rather than feeling hopeless against these cancers, at least we do know vegetables and fruits in this order and vegetables prepared in olive oil may actually provide an easy and rather pleasant way of reducing risk," Trichopoulos said.

According to the study, vegetable consumption statistically reduced breast cancer risk by 12 percent and fruits by eight percent.

Breast cancer is a major and rising problem around the world and particularly in this country, where one in 10 women can expect to develop the disease late in life.

"There are very few things a woman can actually do to reduce her risk," he said.

"To be able to point out that there may be a dietary regime that is associated with reduced risk, assuming this is further confirmed, makes sense," Trichopoulos said.

"In this case there is a lifestyle which is associated with reduced risk of breast cancer and is really linked to a type of diet which is not all that unpleasant to begin with," he said.

Tricnopoulos is a professor of epidemiology.

He was asked whether eschewing such as margarine and turning to olive oil could be recommended on the basis that it can't hurt.

Not only that, he said, "it could even protect you from coronary artery disease because we know that olive oil and vegetables and fruits are good for coronary disease, which is more of a killer than breast cancer.