New research suggests that eating a Mediterranean diet supplemented with extra virgin olive oil reduces breast cancer risk, Live Science reported.

Researchers from the University of Navarra found that women who followed a Mediterranean diet, which is known for its abundance of plant foods, fish and especially olive oil, were 68 percent less likely to develop breast cancer.

"All this despite the fact that the control group, or comparison group, followed an already healthy diet, which suggests that the results could have been even more significant had it been compared to a dietary pattern as the followed in non-Mediterranean Western countries," researcher Dr. Miguel Angel Martinez-Gonzalez said in a statement.

For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 4,000 post-menopausal women between the ages of 60 and 80 years old who were at a high risk of developing cardiovascular cancer, UPI reported. The women were randomly separated into three groups that followed one of the following diets: a Mediterranean diet rich in extra virgin olive oil, a Mediterranean diet with the addition of nuts, and a diet low in fat to function as a control group.

In the first two groups, the results from the participants confirm that they had one third of the incidence of the disease as compared to the control group. Based on their findings, researchers concluded that the high consumption of virgin olive oil in the Mediterranean diet, where olive oil comprises at least 15 percent of total consumed calories, explains in large part the protection against breast cancer.

"Even though the control group, or the comparison group, also followed a diet that has already been considered healthy, the results could have been even more significant if they had compared those following a normal diet in western but not Mediterranean countries," Dr. Martínez-González explained.

The findings are detailed in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.