Effect of oral olive oil on healing of 10–20% total body surface area burn wounds in hospitalized patients

• Anti-inflammatory and antioxidant therapy is beneficial in minimizing injury in burn patients.
• Olive oil has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory components.
• Oral olive oil accelerates wound healing in patients with burn.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of consumption of oral olive oil on clinical outcomes and wound healing of thermally injured patients with hospital stays. One hundred patients (mean age; 33.34 ± 7 years) with 10–20% total body surface area, deep second degree and more burn wounds were randomized to receive either oral olive oil or sunflower oil as the oil in their diet. Patients were evaluated daily for occurrence of wound infection, sepsis and healing of the grafted skin. Also the duration of hospitalization and admission to the intensive care unit were compared in two groups. Results showed that there was no significant difference between the olive oil group and the control group in percent of TBSA involvement (14.28 ± 0.53 vs. 13.02 ± 0.48, P = 0.7), albumin concentration (3.25 ± 0.5 vs. 3.13 ± 0.5, P = 0.5) and mean calorie intake (2034 ± 216.9 kcal vs2118 ± 192.1 kcal, P = 0.2). We found a significant difference in the duration of wound healing (7.2 ± 0.5 vs. 8.7 ± 0.5, P = 0.04) and duration of hospitalization (7.4 ± 0.5 vs. 8.9 ± 0.4, P = 0.05) in the olive oil group versus the control group. We did not find any difference in ICU admission, wound infection and occurrence of sepsis between two groups. This study showed that an oral diet provided with olive oil in patients with burn may accelerate wound healing and decrease the duration of hospitalization.