Olive oil and phaseolus vulgaris beans and breast cancer – experimental study

Abstract

Leguminous plants such as dry seeds of grain legumes, rich in vegetal protein had been associated with reduced risk of cancer. In this study we intended to establish the relationship between consumption of a diet with olive oil and another one with phaseolus vulgaris beans in the number and volume of breast cancer tumours. A total of 72 female rats with 50 days were used and divided in three groups. All animals were submitted to the administration of 20 mg of 7,12 dimethylbenzanthracene (DMBA) in olive oil, by gavages. The same defined standard food was provided for all animals, but supplemented with beans in group II (40 g of lyophilized beans/Kg ) and with olive oil in the group III (50 ml/Kg). Female rats were sacrificed in the end of 150 days. Neoplastic lesions were evaluated according to morphologic features described in rat mammary carcinomas. It was evaluated the pattern and nuclear grade, the number of mitosis, tumoral necrosis, inflammatory infiltration, general score and volume. A non-significant variation was observed in tumour score between animals, however tumours volume was significantly different between the groups two and three (p<0,05). Our results show that high olive oil diet provokes a superior number of carcinomas but with inferior volume than the other groups.