The Mediterranean diet, which includes olive oil, vegetables and pasta, has long been considered beneficial to health, particularly heart health. However scientists now claim to have discovered why this diet also appears to protect women from breast cancer. According to the researchers, the answer lies in olive oil, or more specifically, one of the ingredients of olive oil - oleic acid. They found that this fatty acid significantly reduced the levels of a gene - Her-2/neu - which is thought to trigger breast cancer. This gene is found in high levels in around one in five breast cancer patients and...