Olive oil chemical may help fight inflammation

Scientists have just found out what gourmets have always known — that there is something special about fresh extra-virgin olive oil.

A tasting experience at a molecular gastronomy meeting in Sicily led University of Pennsylvania biologist Gary Beauchamp to analyze freshly pressed extra-virgin olive oil, in which he found a chemical that acted like ibuprofen.

He and his team named their discovery oleocanthal and found that, although it has a different chemistry, it has an effect similar to that of the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory compound in the commercial pain-killer, they wrote in the science journal Nature.

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The importance of the find lies in the fact that scientists believe to an increasing extent that inflammation plays an important part in a variety of chronic diseases like stroke, heart disease, and breast and lung cancer.

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“Our findings raise the possibility that long-term consumption of oleocanthal may help to protect against some diseases,” they wrote.

It may also go some way to explaining the health benefits long attributed to the olive-oil rich Mediterranean diet.