50 g (more than three and a half tablespoons) of a typical extra virgin olive oil per day contains an amount of oleocanthal with similar in vitro anti-inflammatory effect as 1/10 of the adult ibuprofen dose.

[2][3] However, 50 g is a great deal of olive oil for most consumers; moreover, the absorption, metabolism, and distribution of oleocanthal is not well characterized, and it is not known whether these in vitro effects actually occur in the body.

[5][6] Recently it has been demonstrated that oleocanthal shows potential as a therapeutic agent in the treatment of inflammatory degenerative joint diseases.

In healthy cells, the application of oleocanthal caused a temporary halt in their life cycles, but after 24 hours they returned to normal.

[11] Oleocanthal has also been shown in vitro to inhibit c-met, an important tyrosine kinase receptor which is responsible for proliferation of many cell types.