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by Scientists have discovered that a naturally occurring chemical found in extra-virgin olive oil is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent - in other words, a painkiller. The compound, named oleocanthal, inhibits the activity of cyclooxygenase, or COX enzymes, a pharmacological action shared by ibuprofen. Their finding is significant as inflammation increasingly is believed to play a key role in a variety of chronic diseases.
According to the article, A daily dose of 50 g or 4 tablespoons of olive oil confers the equivalent of around 10% of the recommended ibuprofen dose for adult pain relief... although it won't cure a headache, it may give you some of the long-term benefits of repeated ibuprofen use, including helping to ward off Alzheimer's.
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Beware of too much Cox Inhbition
Taking 500 g of olive oil each day would be a daunting dask for multiple reasons (loose stool, cost of olive oil). More important, the reason for the cardiac complications with Vioxx and other Cox-2 inhibitors is likely their effect on downstream PGs. The spontaneous metabolite of PGD2 is PGJ2 (15-deoxy prostaglandin J2), which is one of the body's natural resolvers of inflammation. It downregulates a host of proteins, including NFkB, anti-apoptotic proteins (cIAP2, cFLIP, Survivin, etc), and others, which are vital to the anti-inflammatory process. While the increase in cardiac events for patients on Cox-2 inhibitors is approximately double that of control patients, the absolute increase is very small. However, this increase is not trivial to the patients who experience the serious adverse events.
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Side-effects of COX inhibitors by AdamWysokinski :: NR0 :: Show
We should be aware that, besides their anti-inflammatory effect, COX-inhibitors play important role in pathogenesis of asthma (the so called aspirin-induced asthma) and may increase the risk of occurrence or intensify allergic reactions. Arachidonic acid (AA) which is present in cells' membranes is released by phospholipase C and oxygenated by either cyclooxygenase (which converts AA to prostaglandins and thromboxanes) or lipooxygenase (leukotrienes are produced). If COX is inhibited (the most common inhibitors are non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin), the production of prostaglandins and thromboxanes is lowered, but higher levels of leukotriens are generated. It may affect in allergic reactions (leukotriens are important mediators of them). Moreover, lowered level of prostaglandins may affect renal functions (because of important role of prostaglandins in regulation of renal blood flow) and may increase the risk of peptic ulcer (prostaglandins regulate the excretion of mucus produced by stomach cells). Those side-effects may be reduced by usage of COX-2 inhibitors (COX-2 is an isoenzyme of COX), but if you remember the recent Vioxx case those drugs may also have serious side-effects.