Abstract
In our ongoing studies on the chemoprevention of cancer we have a particular interest
in the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, of which olive oil is a major component.
Recent studies have shown that extravirgin olive oil contains an abundance of phenolic
antioxidants including simple phenols (hydroxytyrosol, tyrosol), aldehydic secoiridoids,
flavonoids and lignans (acetoxypinoresinol, pinoresinol). All of these phenolic substances
are potent inhibitors of reactive oxygen species attack on, e.g. salicylic acid, 2-deoxyguanosine.
Currently there is growing evidence that reactive oxygen species are involved in the
aetiology of fat-related neoplasms such as cancer of the breast and colorectum. A
plausible mechanism is a high intake of ω-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids which are
especially prone to lipid peroxidation initiated and propagated by reactive oxygen
species, leading to the formation (via α,β-unsaturated aldehydes such as trans-4-hydroxy-2-nonenal) of highly pro-mutagenic exocyclic DNA adducts. Previous studies
have shown that the colonic mucosa of cancer patients and those suffering from predisposing
inflammatory conditions such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease generates appreciably
higher quantities of reactive oxygen species compared with normal tissue. We have
extended these studies by developing accurate high performance liquid chromatography
(HPLC) methods for the quantitation of reactive oxygen species generated by the faecal
matrix. The data shows that the faecal matrix supports the generation of reactive
oxygen species in abundance. As yet, there is a dearth of evidence linking this capacity
to actual components of the diet which may influence the colorectal milieu. However,
using the newly developed methodology we can demonstrate that the antioxidant phenolic
compounds present in olive oil are potent inhibitors of free radical generation by
the faecal matrix. This indicates that the study of the inter-relation between reactive
oxygen species and dietary antioxidants is an area of great promise for elucidating
mechanisms of colorectal carcinogenesis and possible future chemopreventive strategies.
Keywords
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to European Journal of CancerAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
Keys A, Keys M. How to Eat Well and Stay Well, the Mediterranean Way. Garden City: Doubleday and Co., 1975.
- The diet and all-causes death rate in the seven countries study.Lancet. 1981; 2: 58-61
- Olive oil and cancer.in: Hill M.J Giacosa A Caygill C.P.G Epidemiology of Diet and Cancer. Ellis Horwood, Chichester1994: 263-275
- The Mediterranean diet (Editorial).Eur. J. Cancer Prev. 1992; 1: 339-340
- Olive oil, other dietary fats, and the risk of breast cancer (Italy).Cancer Causes and Control. 1998; 6: 545-550
- Dietary fat, olive oil intake and breast cancer risk.Int. J. Cancer. 1994; 58: 774-780
- Consumption of olive oil and specific food groups in relation to breast cancer risk in Greece.J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 1995; 87: 110-116
- Olive oil, other seasoning fats, and the risk of colorectal carcinoma.Cancer. 1998; 82: 448-453
- Lipids of olives.Progress Chem. Fats Other Lipids. 1977; 15: 57-74
- Edible fats and oils.in: Spiller G.A The Mediterranean Diet in Health and Disease. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York1991: 125-134
- Aroma components of olive oil.J. Agric. Food Chem. 1973; 21: 948-952
- The volatile components produced from olive oil by heating.Riv. Ital. Sost. Grasse. 1988; 65: 415-418
- A high performance liquid chromatography method for quantification of hydroxyl radical formation by determination of dihydroxy benzoic acids.Eur. J. Cancer Prev. 1996; 5: 233-240
- Phytate, reactive oxygen species and colorectal cancer.Eur. J. Cancer Prev. 1998; 7: S41-S54
- Generation of reactive oxygen species by the faecal matrix.Gut. 2000; 46: 225-232
Owen RW, Mier W, Giacosa A, Hull W, Spiegelhalder B, Bartsch H. Phenolic compounds and squalene in olive oils: the concentration and antioxidant potential of total phenols, simple phenols, secoiridoids, lignans and squalene. Food Chem Tox 2000, in press.
- Simple and hydrolysable phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil. 1. Their extraction, separation, and quantitative and semiquantitative evaluation by HPLC.J. Agric. Food Chem. 1992; 40: 1571-1576
- Simple and hydrolysable phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil. 2. Initial characterisation of the hydrolysable fraction.J. Agric. Food Chem. 1999; 40: 1577-1580
- Simple and hydrolysable phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil. 3. Spectroscopic characterisation of the secoiridoid derivatives.J. Agric. Food Chem. 1993; 41: 2228-2234
Owen RW, Mier W, Giacosa A, Hull WE, Spiegelhalder B, Bartsch H. Identification of lignans as major components of the phenolic fraction of olive oil. Clin Chem 2000, in press.
- GC-MS evaluation of phenolic compounds in virgin olive oil.J. Agric. Food Chem. 1995; 43: 1802-1807
- On the stereoselsective synthesis of (+)-pinoresinol in Forsythia suspensa from its achiral precursor, coniferyl alcohol.Phytochemistry. 1992; 31: 3869-3874
- Biosynthesis of antioxidant lignans in Sesamum Indicum seeds.Phytochemistry. 1998; 47: 583-591
- Lignans from bark of the Olea plants 2.Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1985; 33: 1232-1241
- Lignans from bark of the Olea plants 1.Chem. Pharm. Bull. 1984; 32: 2730-2735
- A xanthine oxidase inhibitor 1′acetoxychavicol acetate inhibits azoxymethane-induced colonic aberrant crypt foci in rats.Carcinogenesis. 1997; 18: 1113-1118
- Cytotoxic constituents of the bark of Plumeria rubra collected in Indonesia.J. Nat. Prod. 1990; 53: 1447-1455
- Antiproliferative activity of mammalian lignan derivatives against the human breast carcinoma cell line, ZR-75-1.Cancer Invest. 1990; 8: 592-602
- The effect of flaxseed supplementation on early risk markers for mammary carcinogenesis.Cancer Lett. 1991; 60: 135-142
- The effect of flaxseed consumption on the initiation and promotional stages of mammary carcinogenesis.Nutr. Cancer. 1992; 17: 153-159
- Antitumorigenic effect of a mammalian lignan precursor from flaxseed.Nutr. Cancer. 1996; 26: 159-165
- Differential in vitro anti-HIV activity of natural lignans.Zeitschrift Naturforschung. 1990; 45: 1215-1221
- Hydroxyl radical-scavenging property of secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) isolated from flax-seed.Mol. Cell Biochem. 1997; 168: 117-123
- Inhibition of human aromatase by mammalian lignans and isoflavoid phytooestrogens.J. Steroid. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 1993; 44: 147-153
- Lignans and flavonoids inhibit aromatase enzyme in human preadipocytes.J. Steroid. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 1994; 50: 205-212
- Enterolactone and estradiol inhibit each others proliferative effect on MCF-7 breast cancer cells in culture.J. Steroid. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 1992; 41: 615-619
- Dietary phytoestrogens and cancer.J. Steroid. Biochem. Mol. Biol. 1992; 41: 331-337
- Dietary PUFAs and cancer of the breast and colorectum.Carcinogenesis. 1999; 20: 2209-2218
Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
April 11,
2000
Received:
March 24,
2000
Identification
Copyright
© 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
