Olive oil and Cancer

“Also a tree springing out of mount Sinai which produces oil and relish for those who use it for food.” (Quran 23:20)

The Prophet, peace be upon him, said, “Eat olive oil and anoint your-selves with it, for it comes from a blessed tree.” (Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah and Darimi)

Cancer is a heterogeneous group of multi-factorial diseases. The exact mechanism of how cancer happens is still only partially understood. Nevertheless, several factors that affect the risk of cancer development have been successfully studied. These factors include what is called endogenous or inside the body, and environmental or external factors. Of these factors, diet has been one that was proven to play an important role in development and formation of many common types of cancers.

Breast Cancer:

Diet is one of the various factors that have been extensively studied and found to modify the risk of breast cancer development in humans, in particular the effect of dietary fat. It seems that the risk of breast cancer is not limited to the ratio of total calories ingested, but also to the type of fat ingestion, with higher risk from animal fat.

In contrast to polyunsaturated fat, mono-unsaturated fats reduce the risk of breast cancer. Olive oil is one of the mono-unsaturated fats. It has been demonstrated that the risk of breast cancer is reduced with increased consumption of olive oil. This reduced risk is not demonstrable with butter or margarine. On the contrary, risk is in-creased with margarine intake. This inverse relationship between the consumption of olive oil and the risk of breast cancer was found to be dose dependent: The higher the consumption of olive oil, the lower the risk of breast cancer.

Cancer of the stomach (Gastric cancer):

Evidence support that the stomach cancer is influenced by environmental factors, of which diet appears to be the most important one. This risk was found to be high with increasing consumption of nitrates and proteins, salted, smoked and pickled food. However, risk of stomach cancer was found to decrease with consumption of olive oil, fresh fruits, vitamin C, vitamin E, garlic and others.

Cancer of the Larynx ( Laryngeal cancer):

Dietary factors play an important role in modifying the risk of cancer of the larynx and throat. Alcohol and tobacco are the main two risk factors, followed by low consumption of fruits and vegetables. A Low risk of these cancers has been reported with high intake of olive oil, orange juice, citric food and vegetables.

Cancer of the Uterus (Endometrial cancer):

Recent epidemiological studies indicated that there is a possible effect of dietary factors in the development of cancer in the Uterus. Increasing intake of olive oil was found to be associated with a significant (26%) decrease in risk of cancer of the Uterus.