Positive Health Online

Pomegranate Juice for Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy of Prostate Cancer [CaP]

Arshi Malik, Farrukh Afaq, Sami Sarfaraz, Vaqar M. Adhami, Deeba N. Syed, and Hasan Mukhtar*
 
Prostate cancer is the most common invasive malignancy and the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among U.S. males, with a similar trend in many Western countries. One approach to control this malignancy is its prevention through the use of agents present in diet consumed by humans.
 
Pomegranate from the tree Punica granatum possesses strong antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The authors recently showed that pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) possesses remarkable antitumour-promoting effects in mouse skin. In this study, employing human prostate cancer cells, the authors evaluated the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic properties of PFE. PFE (10-100 g/ml; 48 h) treatment of highly aggressive human prostate cancer PC3 cells resulted in a dose-dependent inhibition of cell growth cell viability and induction of apoptosis.
 
We suggest that pomegranate juice may have cancer-chemopreventive as well as cancer-chemotherapeutic effects against prostate cancer in humans.
 
The present study is the first report showing the effect of the fruit pomegranate in inhibiting human prostate carcinoma cell growth in an in vitro and in vivo preclinical model. The reduction in tumour growth with concomitant reduction in PSA levels observed in the xenograft model may have human clinical relevance. The outcome of this study could have a direct practical implication and translational relevance to CaP patients, because it suggests that pomegranate consumption may retard CaP progression, which may prolong the survival and quality of life of the patients.
 
In summary, based on the present findings, it is tempting to suggest that the fruit pomegranate and its associated antioxidants may possess a strong potential for development as a chemopreventive and possibly therapeutic agent against CaP.
 

References 

1.  Jemal A, Murray T, Ward E, Samuels A, Tiwari RC, Ghafoor A, Feuer EJ and Thun MJ CA Cancer J Clin. 55, 10-30. 2005.
2.  Hong WK and Sporn MB Science 278: 1073-1077. 1997.
3.  Parnes HL, Thompson IM.and Ford LG J Clin Oncol 23: 368-377. 2005.
4.  Mukhtar H and Ahmad N. Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 158, 207-210. 1999.
5.  Surh YJ Nat Rev Cancer 3: 768-780. 2003.

Original Citation

Arshi Malik, Farrukh Afaq, Sami Sarfaraz, Vaqar M. Adhami, Deeba N. Syed, and Hasan Mukhtar* Department of Dermatology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706. Pomegranate Juice for Chemoprevention and Chemotherapy of Prostate Cancer [CaP]. PNAS 102 no. 41: 14813-14818. October 11, 2005.  www.pnas.org/content/102/41/14813.full

Acknowledgement

This work was supported by U.S. Public Health Service Grants R01 CA

Source

Mike Menkes mikemenkes@yahoo.com   www.ComplementaryMD.com

Exposing Health Canada – Dr Shiv Chopra's book – Corrupt To The Core ...

I have just finished reading the shocking, eye-opening book Corrupt To The Core by Dr Shiv Chopra – in which he documents in vivid detail his many years of 'battle against CORRUPTION' within Health Canada, in his efforts to preserve the integrity of the Canadian food supply in the face of government compliance with the demands of corporate vested interests. He describes with alarming detail how Health Canada, in obedience to the agenda of the Canadian Government, has sacrificed – and continues to knowingly and intentionally sacrifice – the security of the Canadian food supply and the health of Canadians in order to accommodate the unfettered 'profitability demands' of the corporate lobby – totally betraying its 'mandate to protect' the Canadian public, its health, its environment and the safety of its food supply.

He also details how easy it is to corrupt and destroy a nation when people in positions of authority are willing to betray their mandate 'to serve the public good', and sacrifice their character and integrity for the enticements of personal gain – be it promotion, monetary, or prestige – and how difficult it is for those few who operate with impeccable integrity to exist and operate within this 'climate of total corruption'.  It is obvious that this [Canadian] government is Corrupt to the Core – not only Health Canada. It is also obvious that this corruption is being carried out with sufficient stealth, secrecy, and cover-up SPIN, that the average Canadian, and many members of Parliament, are not totally aware of the depth of this deception and betrayal.

This book is a 'Must Read' book for every Canadian – and we must also make sure that all persons in positions of authority are given this book to read.
 

Further Information

Order from KOS Publishing on Tel: 001 519 927-1049; Fax 001 519 927-9542;   helke@sympatico.ca     www.kospublishing.com 

This book normally retails for $30, but if we bulk order (5 copies or more) we can buy it at 50% off, plus shipping and GST.  (which should bring it in between $16 – $17). Please put Book Order in the subject line of your email, or call me at Tel:  604 437-6286.
 

Croft Woodruff PhD

From: Croft Woodruff croft.woodruff@gmail.com

Source

Chris Gupta  chrisgupta@alumni.uwaterloo.ca   www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/

Women's Multivitamin Study: Predictable Results, Waste of Research Funds

The Alliance for Natural Health (ANH) claims today that the latest study which claims to show that multivitamin supplements don't prevent cancer or heart disease, is a waste of public money. These funds, says the ANH, could be much more usefully spent on aspects of preventative medicine where a positive result was more likely.

The study that has triggered this criticism is one published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on February 9, led by Dr Marian Neuhouser of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle. The study followed, over an 8-year period, the progression of cancer and heart disease in 161,808 postmenopausal women who were part of the US government funded Women's Health initiative.

Of these women, no difference in disease outcome was found between the 42% of women, aged between 50 and 79, who took multivitamin and mineral supplements and those who did not.

But the ANH slammed the research. Dr Damien Downing, the ANH's medical director, a medical doctor who has practiced nutritional medicine for 25 years, called the research "childish naïveté". He also said the findings could not be applied to the general public because the study involved only less than healthy, overweight postmenopausal women taking trivial amounts of multivitamins and minerals, with no data on their earlier lives when disease causation would have been initiated.

Dr Robert Verkerk, executive and scientific director of the ANH, said, "Like so many of the large studies conducted to evaluate the effects of supplements, any good scientist could have predicted the result. How much more public money needs to be wasted, or do we really have a health care system where so few scientists and doctors close to the big money know anything about preventative medicine?"

The ANH has today published a critique of the observational study on its website.  Its criticism focused particularly on the lack of relevance of the study group to the general population, the doses of supplements used, the frequency of intake, the forms of nutrients taken, and the course of the diseases studied in relation to the time and duration of supplementation.

Dr Verkerk went on to say, "We were astonished to find that, with no reasons given, the study specifically excluded multivitamin and mineral supplements that exceeded the US RDAs which are known to be far too low to yield useful heart disease and cancer protective effects. Also any ultivitamin with less than 10 nutrients was excluded from the 'stress supplements' group, and this would have included some of the highest dose, limited combination products which would have been most effective."

In its critique, the ANH argues that given that chronic diseases like cancer and heart disease have long development times and are often triggered by events in earlier life; evaluating the effects of low dose supplements in older women is a futile exercise. Many of the women would likely have been in a pre-clinical disease phase, so evaluating the effects of low dose supplements in later life
while knowing virtually nothing about their lifestyle and nutrient intakes during their younger years is a classic case of 'too little, too late'.

The ANH represents a large and growing number of medical practitioners of nutritional medicine around the world. In the wake of yet another trial that it says was 'designed to fail', it is using this opportunity to offer to governments expertise from doctors and scientists associated with it so that they may assist in designing trials using specific diets and nutritional supplements that would have a far greater chance of success than those evaluated in the present Women's Multivitamin Study.

Further Information

Liz Davies, ANH Campaign Administrator
Tel: +44 (0)1306 646 600,
info@anhcampaign.org    www.anhcampaign.org
 www.anhcampaign.org/news/women%E2%80%99s-multivitamin-study-%E2%80%98a-little-too-late%E2%80%99-study-designed-to-fail