Herbal Cocktail Fights Cancer

[peter991]

Herbal cocktail fights cancer

A cocktail of sticky rice, red wine, berries and spices meshed into pill form could be the latest answer in the fight against cancer.

The vitamin-like tablets would be taken daily and would fight against tumours that may develop in the bowels, breasts and prostate, the Daily Mail reports.

A recent study has found the concoction reduces the risk of cancer in humans by up to 40 percent.

"These drugs have proved highly effective in the laboratory — it is extraordinary," Professor Will Steward, a molecular medicine expert said.

"They act in numerous ways on pre-cancerous cells, but they also appear to be effective on cancerous cells."

The effectiveness of the compounds was discovered by Steward after he began searching for drugs that prevented cells from becoming cancerous — a process called chemoprevention.

"We know they are safe to use but we want to establish if they are effective in humans," he said.

"We do not know whether there will be a 40 per cent reduction in risk in the body — it could be more, it could be less."

A rapid decline in breast cancer in rural Thailand prompted the scientist to begin his research.

The special compounds are tricin, found in Thai sticky rice, resveratrol from red wine, antioxidants from bilberries and curcumin from tumeric.

Clinical trials have already begun.

Peter

[Prakanong]

Not much detail in that story but it is the Daily Mail after all

I would like to see where the clinical trials are taking place. My good pal at work is one of the main Clinical Managers on the largest ever lung cancer trial which is about to begin and was a practicing oncologist till he moved to research this year - i am sure he would be interested in the studies too as he obviously collects this type of info.

My pal in Thailand is also clinical research manager for that country - last time we spoke about breast cancer in Thailand was in India in march - she then said it was on the increasee and not in rapiod decline - some figures would be nice either ay.

Cancer in women in rural Thailand - cervical cancer is a much bigger problem that breast I would have thought although both can be devastating. Thailand along with John Hopkins and others have some innovative programmes in rural Thailand aimed at cervical cancer reduction and treatment.

[pete_r]

A quick look at the literature indicates that a rice-wine-turmeric pill may have been tested in the laboratory with encouraging results, but clinical trials haven't been done yet.

Such a pill may be good for cancer prevention, but for treatment the active ingredients must be administered at high doses, which are difficult to achieve inside the body.

Use of cancer chemopreventive phytochemicals as antineoplastic agents

Maurizio D’Incalci, William P Steward, Andreas J Gescher

Lancet Oncol 2005; 6: 899–904

Curcumin: The story so far

R.A. Sharma, A.J. Gescher, W.P. Steward

European Journal of Cancer 41 (2005) 1955–1968

[Prakanong]

A quick look at the literature indicates that a rice-wine-turmeric pill may have been tested in the laboratory with encouraging results, but clinical trials haven't been done yet.

Such a pill may be good for cancer prevention, but for treatment the active ingredients must be administered at high doses, which are difficult to achieve inside the body.

Use of cancer chemopreventive phytochemicals as antineoplastic agents

Maurizio D'Incalci, William P Steward, Andreas J Gescher

Lancet Oncol 2005; 6: 899–904

Curcumin: The story so far

R.A. Sharma, A.J. Gescher, W.P. Steward

European Journal of Cancer 41 (2005) 1955–1968

Thanks - my pal asks me to pass on anything I find reference to.

He is concerned with a therapeutic vaccine for cancer currently.

[sleepyjohn]

If you are interested in this sort of thing there may be something simpler and more effective.

The Canadian Cancer Society recently took the extraordinary step of recommending Vit D supplementation based on serious evidence.

This from the Globe and Mail:

"But perhaps the biggest bombshell about vitamin D's effects is about to go off. In June, U.S. researchers will announce the first direct link between cancer prevention and the sunshine vitamin. Their results are nothing short of astounding.

A four-year clinical trial involving 1,200 women found those taking the vitamin had about a 60-per-cent reduction in cancer incidence, compared with those who didn't take it, a drop so large — twice the impact on cancer attributed to smoking — it almost looks like a typographical error."

for more

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...eandHealth/home

[sleepyjohn]

More of the same about Vitamin D

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/sto...eandHealth/home

I have been aware of these studies for some time but have not yet looked thoroughly at them. It is time to do so. These are serious organisations making serious suggestions.

[geriatrickid]

And the cheapest way to go is still a balanced diet and exercise.

So many interwoven factors between obesity, diabetes, and immune system problems.

Now if I could only follow that guidance..........