Olive Oil And Fish Protect Your Pancreas

Your pancreas is a hardworking organ, supplying hormones you need to promote proper digestion. Pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas, can be an acute or chronic condition that may threaten your health and your life.

If you want to reduce your risk of pancreas damage, the Mediterranean diet, rich in virgin olive oil and fish, may lower the inflammation that can injure pancreatic cells. A study conducted by a research group at the University of Granada has found that oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol (concentrated in virgin olive oil) and omega-3 fats (found in fish) affect the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of acute pancreatitis.

The author of the study, María Belén López Millán, says: “…there is increasing evidence that there are oxidative-inflammatory processes involved in the origin of chronic diseases and that diet plays an important role in such processes. The antioxidant (phenolic compounds) and antiinflammatory (omega-3 fatty acids) effects of diet components (nutrients and bioactive compounds) prevent… the pathological incidence of oxidative-inflammatory processes.”