A trip to the hospital can be a “pain in the backside”—literally. Prolonged stays in the hospital can commonly induce back sores—open wounds that arise from sustained pressure on the skin. These pressure injuries, more commonly known as bedsores, typically occur in scenarios of limited mobility such as during bedrest or in a wheelchair, making them a major concern for health care professionals. A new study published in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism explores the potential benefits of consuming olive oil for healing these pressure wounds.
Because of the frequency of pressure injuries and the severe financial burden associated with treatment (the total cost of pressure injury care in Ontario, for example, is ~$1.5 billion per year), effective health care interventions are an urgent matter. Now, researchers are turning to nutritional strategies to battle bedsores.
A diet rich in olive oil may have a protective role in promoting the healing or reducing the severity of pressure injuries. Olive oil contains high concentrations of monounsaturated fatty acids and phenol antioxidants, compounds known for their ability to fight inflammation and reduce cell damage. Certain compounds that are found in high concentrations in olive oil are known for their ability to fight inflammation and reduce cell damage (i.e., monounsaturated fatty acids and phenol antioxidants, respectively).
The new study supports this novel role for olive oil in promoting wound healing in mice with pressure injuries. Over 6 weeks (~5 years in humans), the mice in this study received either a standard diet, a diet high in olive oil, or a diet combining both soybean and olive oil. At week four, a pressure injury was developed in the mice using laboratory techniques that reduced the oxygen and nutrient delivery to the skin of the affected area, similar to how pressure injuries are formed in humans.
The authors found that the mice treated with olive oil as well as the combination of soybean and olive oil demonstrated accelerated wound closure compared with the standard diet at 10 and 14 days post-injury.
Interestingly, wound closure began earlier in the olive oil group compared with the soybean oil and olive oil group, where improvements were noted as early as 7 days post-injury. The authors discovered that olive oil may support wound healing by reducing inflammation. This allowed for a coordinated cellular response that repaired and rebuilt structural proteins such as collagen around the wound, resulting in its closure.
These findings are a positive stepping stone for the use of nutritional interventions in combatting pressure injuries. As lead author Dr. Andrea Monte-Alto-Costa explained over email, the lab’s research aims to “improve [pressure injury] healing through nutrients, in an attempt to reduce the use of drugs.” Monte-Alto-Costa also cautions that studies are yet to be conducted in humans, they hope that “[olive oil] will soon be a useful nutritional therapy.”
Read the paper: Olive oil promotes wound healing of mice pressure injuries through NOS-2 and Nrf2 in Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.
