NaturaLift MD Review Blog

Extra virgin olive oil is a potent antioxidant. When applied before exposure to UV-B, experiments have demonstrated it helps protect the skin from developing cancer. This result was also documented when extra virgin olive oil was applied to the skin after UV-B exposure. Dermatologists conducting the study reported:

“Mice that received extra virgin olive oil after UV-B exposure showed significantly lower numbers of tumors per mouse than those in the UV-B control group throughout the experimental period.”

Another study reported that:

“…there were lower levels of 8-hydroxy-2-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG: a carcinogenic agent) in epidermal nuclei. These results indicate that extra virgin olive oil topically applied after UV-B exposure can effectively reduce UV-B-induced murine skin tumors (by 62%), possibly via its antioxidant effects in reducing DNA damage by reactive oxygen species.”

“In this study the effects of hydroxytyrosol (DOPET), the major antioxidant compound present in extra virgin olive oil on UV-A induced cell damages, have been investigated using human melanoma cells.”

Further: “… [t]hese protective effects are dose dependent.”

Doctors studied the effect of extra virgin olive oil topically-applied to the skin before each of multiple doses of x-rays: “… [t]he data indicated a definite radioprotective effect of the topical administration of extra virgin olive oil.”

Authors of a related article pointed out that: “… regular olive oil neither retarded nor reduced skin cancer formation in UV-irradiated mice. Our results suggest that daily topical use of extra virgin olive oil after sunbathing may delay and reduce UV-induced skin cancer development in human skin, possibly by decreasing reactive oxygen species-induced 8-OHdG which is responsible for gene mutation.”130 They also noted that: “…[a]ntioxidants vitamin E and epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) extracted from green tea, applied topically to the skin, delayed the onset of UV-induced skin cancer in mice.”