Scientists may have discovered the reason the Mediterranean diet helps people live longer and healthier- because olive oil destroys cancer cells… The discovery, by researchers from Rutgers, Hunter College and New York City University, showed that oleocanthal in extra virgin olive oil “induced cell death in all cancer cells examined- as rapidly as 30 minutes after treatment”… Onica LeGendre, Paul Breslin and David Foster said the oleocanthal entered the cancer cell and weakened a membrane in the cell wall.