Olive oil and fish can help prevent acute pancreatitis

Researchers at the University of Granada have found that Mediterranean diet ingredients can help prevent acute pancreatitis, in a first study of its kind.

Oleic acid and hydroxytyrosol, present in a particularly high concentration in virgin olive oil and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids found in fish, affect the cellular mechanisms involved in the development of acute pancreatitis.

An in vitro experimental model was developed, which allows scientists to evaluate how changes in the membrane fatty acid composition in vivo (caused by a change in the type of fat ingested) affect the ability of cells to respond to induced oxidative-inflammatory damage with cerulein (acute pancreatitis).

The author of this study, María Belén López Millán affirms that "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/mitigate the pathological incidence of oxidative-inflammatory processes".