111 Virgin Olive Oil Benefits One of these was the liver (Figure 8.2). This organ ages well, although non-alcoholic steatohepatitis, the main cause of non-alcoholic cirrhosis and liver cancer, is present in more than 40% of individuals older than 70 years. An unbalanced diet, ageing per se, and some diseases promote the progression from fatty liver to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. Sunflower oil leads to greater accumulation of fat and increased hepatic fibrosis than olive or fish oils. After sunflower and fish oil diets, but not virgin olive oil ones, mitochondria, which are related to ageing, presented a larger size (a damage marker) which implies swelling, oxidative stress, and less activity of the mitochondrial complex I. There was also a significant increase in telomer length in the liver of animals fed with fish oil, in fact 90% of livers with hepatocellular carcinoma have been recently described as having enlarged telomers. To sum up, olive oil consumption prevented the transition from fatty liver to a non-alcoholic steatohepatitis associated with ageing, whilst a certain degree of liver lipotoxicity was present after the two sources of polyunsaturated fats. Studies have also been performed with the pancreas (Figure 8.3). The two main effects of ageing are pancreatitis, where the exocrine pancreas is affected, and diabetes mellitus, a disturbance of the endocrine pancreas. When compared with olive oil, sunflower and Figure 8.2. Main effects of lifespan ingestion of virgin olive, sunflower, and fish oil on liver in rats. Despite a general fat accumulation in the liver during ageing, virgin olive oil, and, to a lesser extent, fish oil, permit the liver to adapt for healthy ageing. In contrast, sunflower oil blocks this adaptation. Figura 2 Rats fed during their lifespan withvirgin olive, sunflower, and fish oil In all cases fat in accumulates with differs according to the fat ingested Balanced oxidation Without f ibrosis Increase in gene expression related to: *Mitochondrial function *Balanced oxidation *Apoptosis induction Without f ibrosis Without f ibrosis Oxidative stress Oxidative stress Mitochondrial shortfall Mitochondrial shortfall Enlarged telomers No changes in gene expression associated with ageing Increase in gene expression related to: *Mitochondrial funct ion *Balanced oxidation *Apoptosis induction * Telomer length induction
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