The World Health Organization revealed in its latest report in 2014 that there had been 14 million new cases of cancer and more than 8 million deaths . Finding an effective remedy to stop this wave of deaths caused by cancer is vital for the scientific community. New scientific work directs us in this direction in the fight against cancer with a revealing discovery.
A component of extra virgin olive oil is capable of killing cancer cells without damaging healthy human cells. This is the conclusion of the latest study carried out by a team of scientists from Rutgers University in New Jersey (USA) and Hunter College in New York (USA), published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Oncology .
The ingredient in question is “oleocanthal” , a natural organic compound isolated from extra virgin olive oil and responsible for its particular slightly spicy flavor. Experts have discovered that oleocanthal enzymes themselves cause cancer cell death by breaking down the vesicles that store cell waste , without disrupting healthy cells. And the process is tremendously fast: between 30 minutes and an hour.
The cancer cells were being killed by their own enzymes . The oleocanthal was puncturing the vesicles (the lysosomes) within the cancer cells that store the cell’s waste. “Once you open one of those things, all hell breaks loose,” explains study co-author Paul Breslin.
What is striking about this process is that oleocanthal did not damage healthy cells but temporarily paralyzed their life cycle , “as if they had been put to sleep,” says Breslin. 24 hours later, the healthy cells resumed their natural cycles. The next step will be to demonstrate that this process also works in live animals . “And we also have to understand why cancer cells are more sensitive to oleocanthal than non-cancerous cells,” says David Foster, a co-author of the study.
