Summaries and Conclusions
of Recent Studies
ON OLIVE OIL AND THE MEDITERRANEAN DIET

Olive oil may have a protective effect on the development of CRC (colorectal cancer.) The proposed hypothesis is that olive oil may influence secondary bile acid patterns in the colon that, in turn, might influence polyamine metabolism in colonic enterocytes in ways that reduce progression from normal mucosa to adenoma and carcinoma.
- "Olive oil, diet and colorectal cancer: an ecological study and a hypothesis"
Journal of Epidemiol Community Health Vol. 54, pp.756­760, 2000.

There is increasing scientific evidence that there are positive health effects from diets which are high in fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains, and which include fish, nuts and low-fat dairy products. Such diets need not be restricted in total fat as long as there is not an excess of calories, and should emphasize predominantly vegetable oils that are low in saturated fats and partially-hydrogenated oils. The traditional Mediterranean Diet, whose principal source of fat is olive oil, encompasses these dietary characteristics.
- 2000 Conference on the Mediterranean Diet

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