Researchers from the University of Granada and Hospital Carlos III in Madrid, verified that maslinic acid – found in wax from olive skin – inhibits serin-protease, the enzyme used by HIV to release itself from the infected cell into the extracellular environment. C@MPUS DIGITAL Olive oil has become part of the fight against the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) – the cause of AIDS – thanks to the research carried out by the Bionat team, from the University of Granada, headed by Prof. Andrés García-Granados, senior lecturer in Organic Chemistry. Their work shows that maslinic acid – a natural product extracted from dry olive-pomace oil in oil mills – inhibits serin-protease, an enzyme used by HIV to release itself from the infected cell into the extracellular environment and, consequently, to spread the infection into the whole body. These scientists from Granada determined that the use of olive-pomace oil can produce an 80% slowing down in AIDS spreading in the body.
