The University of Athens has investigated the link between olive oil consumption and cancer risk. The likelihood drops by a third thanks to extra virgin olive oil
Research evidence has established the beneficial effects of diet in cancer prevention.
Several epidemiological studies have suggested that the olive oil component may play a role in reducing cancer risk.
A systematic review and meta-analysis from the University of Athens examined the association between olive oil consumption, cancer risk and prognosis.
The systematic search was carried out in the PubMed, EMBASE and Google Scholar databases (search completion: 10 May 2020). Subgroup analyses, sensitivity analyses and meta-regression analyses were also performed.
45 studies were included in the meta-analysis; 37 were case-control studies (17,369 cases and 28,294 controls) and 8 were cohort studies (12,461 incident cases in a combined cohort of 929,771 subjects).
The increased consumption of olive oil was associated with a 31% lower chance of developing cancer of the breast, gastrointestinal tract, upper respiratory tract and urinary tract.
Consuming olive oil appears to have a beneficial effect when it comes to preventing cancer.