Category Archives: Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer linked to high intake of protein and calcium from dairy
by PF Louis
(NaturalNews) The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPICN) is a multicenter meta-epidemiological (broad statistical survey) study designed to assess cancer risks by investigating past and current relationships between diet, lifestyle, environmental factors and cancer among a large population of different EU nations.
EPICN had a pool of 500,000 men and women recruited from 28 centers in 10 European countries: Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom (UK) for several studies involving different cancers and groups with different lifestyles and diets.
A UK sub-study isolated 142,251 men from this vast pool, excluding Norway and France. Both of those nations had only women in the study. The men were recruited between 1989 and 2004 with a median age of 52, mostly white Europeans from the eight nations that had men in the EPICN cohort (group of similar types).
During recruitment, this male group taken from the EPICN required consentual access to medical records, no history or diagnosis of cancer proven by medical records, and were able to complete questionnaires on their diet, lifestyle and medical history.
Men in the top one percent and bottom one percent of the institutionally recommended caloric intake were excluded from this study in order to remove wide variances from their statistical analysis.
The UK study
The UK study, “Animal foods, protein, calcium and prostate cancer risk: the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition” study was completed in March 2007 and its paper was published in the British Journal of Cancer in April 2008.
Animal foods for those in the study included total meat and meat products with their subcategories, fish and shellfish with their subcategories, and dairy products, including milk, yoghurt, cheese, and eggs. Food amounts were measured in grams.
It had already been hypothesized that a high intake of animal protein enhanced growth hormone activity to increase the risk of prostate cancer. Some non-clinical studies showed a strong correlation with milk to higher incidents of prostate cancer with the hypothesis that high calcium intake from dairy products inhibits the synthesis of vitamin D.
After an average of 8.7 years of follow-up, 2,727 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer among the 142,520 participants. The UK did not find a direct association with milk alone to prostate cancer, as other studies seemed to have suggested.
But they determined that protein from milk products, cheese, yoghurt, and others was a strong factor among those whose daily consumption exceeded the recommended daily amount by 35 grams (1.2 ounces) daily.
Calcium from dairy products was associated with prostate cancer risk as well, but not calcium from other foods. In the researchers’ opinion, their results support the hypothesis that a high intake of protein or calcium from dairy products may increase the risk for prostate cancer.
Opinion Despite statistical machinations to offset extraneous factors and with just under a 2 percent prostate cancer outcome among 142,500 men over several years of monitoring, one wonders how this can be so conclusive.
One may question if dairy products, especially dairy products from raw milk, increase the risk of prostate cancer. Raw milk dairy product intake was not considered in this study,
One thing is for certain, this study kept several researchers busily employed for a few years.
Sources for this study includes:
Complete study http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2391107/
Summary http://www.vitasearch.com/get-clp-summary/37471
http://www.healthdiaries.com
Resveratrol helps fight prostate cancer
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) The cardiovascular “super-nutrient” resveratrol, which is prominently found in grape skins and red wine, may also play an important role in mitigating prostate cancer. A new study out of Missouri links the compound to spurring a critical uptick in the production of special proteins that target malignant cancer cells, which could eventually render the nutrient a powerful, natural weapon in the fight against cancer.
For their research, Michael Nicholl, an assistant professor of surgical oncology at the University of Missouri (MU) School of Medicine, and his colleagues examined how prostate tumor cells respond to resveratrol. Since it is already known that resveratrol helps boost the effectiveness of chemotherapy in treating various forms of prostate cancer, the team decided to investigate whether or not a similar benefit could be observed for the nutrient’s use in conjunction with radiation therapy.
Nicholl and his team discovered that resveratrol boosts production of two naturally-occurring proteins known as perforin and granzyme B, which together target harmful cancer cells throughout the body. Prostate tumor cells naturally contain these two proteins, but resveratrol helps prostate cancer cells to produce even more of them, which in effect can greatly improve cancer patients’ chances of eradicating their malignant cancer cells and moving on to full recovery.
“It is critical that both proteins, perforin and granzyme B, are present in order to kill the tumor cells, and we found that the resveratrol helped to increase their activity in prostate tumor cells,” said Nicholl about the findings. “Following the resveratrol-radiation treatment, we realized that we were able to kill many more tumor cells when compared with treating the tumor with radiation alone. It’s important to note that this killed all types of prostate tumor cells, including aggressive tumor cells.”
Similar research published last year in the journal Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences found that resveratrol is also a powerful “chemosensitizer,” which means it helps cancer tumors respond more effectively to chemotherapy treatment. According to that study, resveratrol effectively modulates cell signaling molecules, which can help enhance the effectiveness of conventional cancer treatments.
Resveratrol fights cancer even without chemotherapy, radiation
By itself, resveratrol is also a proven anti-cancer nutrient with a powerful ability to fight cancer cells without the need for chemotherapy or radiation. Supplementing with resveratrol, which acts as a powerful antioxidant to rid the body of cancer-causing free radicals, can assist the body in maintaining homeostasis and also deter the onset of a host of debilitating diseases, especially when combined with other powerful disease-fighting agents such as turmeric (curcumin) and lycopene.
“A series of laboratory experiments suggests that resveratrol inhibits the development of cancer in animals and prevents the progression of cancer,” writes Schuyler W. Lininger, Jr., D.C., in his bookThe Natural Pharmacy: Complete Home Reference to Natural Medicine. “In another set of animal studies, resveratrol was shown to inhibit both the acute and chronic phases of inflammation.”
Sources for this article include:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/uom-cig110912.php
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3060406/
http://www.naturalnews.com/025977_resveratrol_Amazon_natural.html
Eating more plant-based foods helps prevent aggressive prostate cancers: study
by Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Men who incorporate a higher overall ratio of plant-based foods and herbs into their diets can help cut their risk of developing aggressive prostate cancers by at least 25 percent compared to other men, suggests a new University of South Carolina (USC) study. According to the research, which was compiled using data collected on participants in the North Carolina – Louisiana Prostate Cancer Project, antioxidants known as flavonoids are a key, cancer-fighting class of components found in plant-based foods that helps thwart the onset of cancer.
Presented at the recent International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research in Anaheim, California, the study included data on 920 African-American men and 977 Caucasian men, all of whom had been recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. Each of the men filled out questionnaires about food intake, and Susan Steck and her colleagues from USC’s Arnold School of Public Health compiled this information and made comparisons about each of the men’s health conditions in correlation with their diets.
Upon analysis, Steck and her team found that younger men below the age of 65 as well as smokers who consume flavonoid-rich foods such as citrus fruits, tea, grapes, onions, strawberries, and cooked greens have a significantly lower risk of developing aggressive prostate cancers compared to men who do not eat these foods. And those who eat a diverse array of such foods rather than honing in on just one or two, fare even better in the cancer prevention department.
“Incorporating more plant-based foods and beverages, such as fruits, vegetables, herbs and tea, into the diet may offer some protection against aggressive prostate cancer,” said Steck in a recent press release about the findings. “Filling your plate with flavonoid-rich foods is one behavior that can be changed to have a beneficial impact on health.”
“We found that higher total flavonoid intake was associated with reduced odds for aggressive prostate cancer in both African-American and European-American men, but no individual subclass of flavonoids appeared to be protective independently, suggesting that it is important to consume a variety of plant-based foods in the diet, rather than to focus on one specific type of flavonoid or flavonoid-rich food.”
A similar study involving flavonoids and cancer risk out of Harvard Medical School (HMS) was also presented at the conference. Dr. Susanne M. Henning, Ph.D., and her colleagues from HMS evaluated the effects of taking green tea for prostate cancer prevention and found that men who consume green tea have proportionally lower levels of circulating prostate-specific antigen (PSA), which are markers commonly attributed to the onset of prostate cancer.
Green tea plus citrus provides new level of cancer protection
(NaturalNews) A large study was recently carried out in Japan to assess citrus fruit consumption as a means of preventing cancer. The results were surprising: citrus fruit had a markedly lower risk for multiple cancers, but only for green tea drinkers. More importantly, daily citrus consumption provided significant protection above and beyond that obtained by drinking green tea alone.
Citrus fruit and cancer risk in Japan – The Ohsaki cohort study
The Ohsaki cohort study was carried out on over 42,000 men and women, aged 40-79, starting in 1994. Citrus fruit consumption was determined by questionnaire, and patients were followed up with from 1995 to 2003 (average follow-up period 7.6 years). During that time, 3,398 cases of cancer were identified. Eating citrus fruit every day provided no significant cancer protection for non-tea drinkers. But for those drinking at least one cup daily of green tea, the story was different. Joint effect analysis showed that men experienced an overall 17 percent reduction in cancer risk, while women saw an 18 percent reduction. Both results were statistically significant. Those consuming citrus fruit three to four times per week saw a reduced but still significant benefit of 11 percent cancer risk reduction. But the most stunning result of the Ohsaki cohort study is that green tea drinkers who added citrus fruit to their diet every day saw increased protection from cancer even beyond that from drinking green tea alone. This is important, because multiple studies have already shown that green tea consumption may significantly reduce the risk for several cancers (lung, ovarian, endometrial, prostate, liver, oral).
Citrus with green tea sharply lowers pancreatic and prostate cancer risk
When data was further analyzed for individual cancers, more impressive results emerged. Daily citrus with green tea provided a 38 percent reduction in pancreatic cancer risk for men and women, and a 37 percent risk reduction in prostate cancer for men (both statistically significant). Sizable risk reductions for other cancers were also observed (breast, renal, colorectal, esophageal, bladder) but due to the small number of cases, statistical significance was not reached for any of them.
Citrus consumption may stabilize green tea polyphenols in the gut
The researchers from the Ohsaki cohort study did not know why citrus made such a good combination with green tea, and called for further study on the matter. It is important to note that the mandarin orange is the major citrus fruit consumed by the Japanese (Japan National Nutrition Survey). There is no known synergizing compound in mandarin oranges (each contains roughly 10 mg naringenin and eight mg hesperetin, but no appreciable quercetin).
However, another way to increase green tea’s anticancer effect might be to increase absorption of its active polyphenols (especially EGCG). A recent study from Purdue University seems to confirm that this is the case. Purdue researchers showed that green tea polyphenols are quite unstable in the gut. In a simulated stomach environment, fewer than 20 percent of the total polyphenols could be recovered after digestion. However, mixing green tea with various additives changed this dramatically. Of all the additives, citrus juice was the most effective in stabilizing green tea polyphenols, raising the recovery rate to as high as 76 percent for EGCG.
So if you’re currently using green tea (drink or supplements) to ward off cancer, combining with citrus fruit could provide you with a new level of protection. And keep in mind that if citrus fruit enhances the anti-cancer effect of green tea by stabilizing it in the stomach, then it may be important to take the two with the same meal, in order to achieve the maximum benefit.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20104526
http://www.naturalnews.com/034309_green_tea_cancer_prevention.html
http://www.ars.usda.gov
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17688297
About the author:
Ethan Evers is author of the award-winning medical thriller “The Eden Prescription,” in which natural medicine outperforms a billion-dollar chemo drug and threatens the entire $50 billion cancer drug industry. Ethan based The Eden Prescription on the latest science on natural medicine for cancer, and wrote it to show the future reality that natural medicine can bring us—and to warn of the strategies now being used by those who are trying to stop it. Ethan has a PhD in Applied Science.
Pomegranate
Fights Breast Cancer
Studies in Israel show that pomegranate juice destroys breast cancer cells while leaving healthy cells alone. It may also prevent breast cancer cells from forming.
Studies in mice show that pomegranate juice may inhibit the development of lung cancer.
Slows Prostate Cancer
It slowed the growth of prostate cancer in mice.
Keeps PSA Levels Stable
In a study of 50 men who had undergone treatment for prostate cancer, 8 ounces of pomegranate juice per day kept PSA levels stable, reducing the need for further treatment such as chemotherapy or hormone therapy.
Protects the Neonatal Brain
Studies show that maternal consumption of pomegranate juice may protect the neonatal brain from damage after injury.
Prevention of Osteoarthritis
Several studies indicate that pomegranate juice may prevent cartilage deterioration.
Protects the Arteries
It prevents plaque from building up in the arteries and may reverse previous plaque buildup.
Alzheimer’s Disease Prevention It may prevent and slow Alzheimer’s disease. In one study, mice bred to develop Alzheimer’s disease were given pomegranate juice. They accumulated significantly less amyloid plaque than control mice and they performed mental tasks better.
Lowers Cholesterol
It lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) and raises HDL (good cholesterol).
Lowers Blood Pressure
One study showed that drinking 1.7 ounces of pomegranate juice per day lowered systolic blood pressure by as much as 5 percent.
Dental Protection
Research suggests that drinking pomegranate juice may be a natural way to prevent dental plaque.
Source: healthdiaries.com
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