Cancer
New Study Reports Supplement Users May Have Better Cancer Survival...
Lung Cancer Patients Who Were Regular Dietary Supplement Users Prior to Diagnosis May Have Better Survival Chances Than Non-Users, Says an Important New Study From Norway.
Use of Cod Liver Oil supplements was associated with a 44 per cent lower risk of death for lung cancer patients, while daily use of other dietary supplements was associated with a 30 per cent reduction in the risk of death among lung cancer patients, according to findings published in the International Journal of Cancer.
"This study has shown that in lung cancer patients taking dietary supplements before diagnosis was associated with better survival. Whether this is due to beneficial effects of supplements, or differences between supplement users and non-users cannot be determined," wrote the researchers from the University of Tromso, Norway. "More research is needed to understand the interplay between nutrients, whether in food or supplements and cancer survival."
The study also indicated that the benefits of supplement use may even extend beyond lung cancer. The use of Cod Liver Oil and other supplements including multivitamins was associated with improved survival statistics for people with any kind of solid tumour, including breast and colorectal cancer.
"Given that randomized controlled trials have demonstrated no effects or increased incidence of lung cancer in supplementation studies in well-nourished populations, our results may be somewhat surprising," wrote the researchers. Diet and supplement use was established for the 68.518 participants of the Norwegian Women and Cancer study using a food frequency questionnaire. The most common supplement used was Cod Liver Oil, said the researchers, followed by multivitamin and mineral supplements.
After adjusting the data to account for smoking status, the age at which the participants were diagnosed, and the stage of the cancer, the researchers report that consumption of Cod Liver Oil daily for a year prior to diagnosis was associated with a 23 per cent reduction in the risk of death in patients with solid tumours, and a reduction of 44 per cent in lung cancer patients.
Additionally, daily and occasional use of other dietary supplements was associated with 30 and 45 per cent reduction, respectively, in the risk of death among lung cancer patients.
Use of combined daily use of both Cod Liver Oil and other dietary supplements was associated with improved survival in lung cancer patients.
Before or After?
Commenting on the study, the researchers noted: "If the most relevant period for supplementation is after diagnosis, it is likely that our results underestimate the effect of supplementation, as some of the patients most likely have initiated supplementation.
"On the other hand, if a certain level of the nutrients or long-term supplementation is required for an effect, dietary supplement use before diagnosis might be more relevant for the association with survival.
"And if dietary supplement use only is an indicator of a set of health behaviours or beliefs, prediagnosis use might be more important, as these characteristics probably are stronger in those who already take supplements before diagnosis, than in those who initiate use afterwards."
The researchers called for more research to study the apparent benefits of supplement use for survival chances in people with solid tumours.
"In countries where dietary supplement use is common, analyses of survival in cancer patients, particularly lung cancer patients, should take dietary supplement use into account," they concluded.
Source: International Journal of Cancer Volume 125, Pages 1155-1160 "Cod liver oil, other dietary supplements and survival among cancer patients with solid tumours"
Cancer Risk Reduction Study Now Reports Green Tea Extracts May Protect Against Oral Cancer...
Extracts From Green Tea May Prevent The Formation of Mouth Cancers in People With Risk Signs of The Disease, According To a New Study From The University of Texas.
Over 50 per cent of participants in the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center study experienced a clinical response to the green tea extracts, according to findings published in Cancer Prevention Research.
"While still very early, and not definitive proof that green tea is an effective preventive agent, these results certainly encourage more study for patients at highest risk for oral cancer," explained the research team.
"The extract's lack of toxicity is very crucial in prevention trials. It's very important to remember that these are otherwise healthy individuals and we need to ensure that agents studied produce no harm," they added.
Green tea contains between 30 and 40 per cent of water-extractable polyphenols, while black tea (green tea that has been oxidized by fermentation) contains between 3 and 10 per cent. Oolong tea is semi-fermented tea and is somewhere between green and black tea.
The four primary polyphenols found in fresh tealeaves are epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), epigallocatechin (EGC), epicatechin gallate (ECG), and epicatechin (EC).
The study followed 41 people with oral leukoplakia, a condition is a sign of oral cancer risk. The participants were assigned to receive either placebo or green tea extract at one of three doses, including 500 milligrams or 1,000 mg three times a day.
The researchers collected oral tissue biopsies, which they say was "essential in that it allowed us to learn that not only did the green tea extract appear to have benefit for some patients, but we pointed to anti-angiogenic effects as a potential mechanism of action," they explained.
Almost 60 per cent of people taking the two highest doses of the green tea extracts had a clinical response. Just over 36 per cent of people in the lowest extract dose group had a clinical response, compared to 18 per cent in the placebo group, said the researchers.
At an extended follow-up with a mean of 27.5 months, 15 participants had developed oral cancer, with a median time to disease development of 46.4 months.
Commenting on the safety, the researchers noted that side effects such as insomnia and nervousness were mostly only recorded in the high-dose group. None of these produced no significant toxicity, they added.
"While these are encouraging findings, much more research must be done before we can conclude that green tea may prevent oral or any other type of cancer. It's also important to remind people that this trial enrolled very few participants who, at the highest dose levels took the equivalent of eight cups of green tea three times a day," cautioned the researchers.
"We need to further understand if green tea offers longer-term prevention effects for patients," they added.
Future studies with such high-risk people investigate the effects of longer supplementation periods, said the researchers.
According to the American Cancer Society, more than 35,720 are expected to be diagnosed with oral and/or pharynx cancer and the five year survival rate is less than 50 per cent.
Source: Cancer Prevention Research
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Pomegranate Extract May Lower Breast Cancer Risk
Compounds from pomegranate may reduce the incidence of hormone-dependent breast cancer, says a new study from California.
A metabolite of ellagic acid found in pomegranates may inhibit an enzyme called aromatase that converts androgen to oestrogen, and that also plays a key role in the development of breast cancer, according to findings published in Cancer Prevention Research.
Researchers from the City of Hope in Duarte, California and the University of California, Los Angeles said they were surprised by their findings. "We previously found other fruits, such as grapes, to be capable of the inhibition of aromatase. But, phytochemicals in pomegranates and in grapes are different," reported the investigators.
Pomegranate, a rich source of antioxidants, has been linked to improved heart health, but a growing body of science indicates the fruit protect against prostate cancer. Studies have also reported a role in joint health by slowing cartilage loss in arthritis.
It is these antioxidants, and particularly ellagitannin compounds like punicalagins and punicalins, which accounts for about half of the fruit's antioxidant ability, that are reportedly behind the proposed health benefits.
They also said additional studies will be needed to confirm these initial findings.
"The ingestion of pomegranate juice can lead to concentrations of circulating urolithins reaching up to 18 micromoles per litre in blood," said the researchers. "Taken together with the results of current studies and reports of the presence of urolithin A and urolithin B in the blood and urine of human subjects following pomegranate ingestion, the results of these analyses suggest that pomegranate intake may be a viable strategy for the chemoprevention of breast cancer."
"More research on the individual components and the combination of chemicals is needed to understand the potential risks and benefits of using pomegranate juice or isolated compounds for a health benefit or for cancer prevention," they explained. "This study does suggest that studies of the ellagitannins from pomegranates should be continued."
Until then people "might consider consuming more pomegranates to protect against cancer development in the breast and perhaps in other tissues and organs".
The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health.
Source: Cancer Prevention Research
Vitamins and Minerals May Reduce Bladder Cancer Risk
More Evidence About How Antioxidants, Carotenoids, Minerals and Vitamins Support Cancer Risk Reduction
Increased intakes of vitamin E may reduce the risk of bladder cancer by about 35 per cent, says a new study from an international team of researchers
Findings published in Cancer Causes and Control also showed that carotenoids, niacin, thiamine, and vitamin D may reduce the risk of bladder cancer in older people.
"The effects of vitamin E, carotenoids, vitamin D, thiamin, and niacin in relation to the risk of developing bladder cancer may warrant further investigation," report the researchers from The Cancer Council Victoria in Australia.
"Future studies should focus on optimal doses and combinations of these micronutrients particularly for high risk groups such as heavy smokers and older individuals," they state.
Bladder cancer is diagnosed in about 336,000 people every year worldwide, and it is three times more likely to affect men than women, according to the European School of Oncology.
The researchers analysed dietary data from 322 people with bladder cancer and 239 healthy controls. A comprehensive food frequency questionnaire was used to estimate dietary intakes.
Results showed that, in general, people with the highest average daily intakes of vitamin E were 34 per cent less likely to develop bladder cancer. The highest average intakes of phosphorous were associated with a 51 per cent reduction in bladder cancer risk.
When the researchers focused their analysis on smokers, they found that the highest intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids (18 milligrams), and niacin (46.5 milligrams), were associated with a 42, 38, and 34 per cent reduction in bladder cancer risk in heavy smokers.
In older individuals, the highest average intakes of carotenoids, vitamin D (641 IU), thiamin (3.35 milligrams), niacin, and vitamin E were all associated with a reduced bladder cancer risk.
"Bladder cancer is a disease that typically affects older people, and bioavailability of B-group vitamins may be compromised in this demographic by certain drugs (such as acid lowering medicines)," stated the researchers. "Additionally, vitamin E, like carotenoids acts as an antioxidant and, as suggested by our results, could be more beneficial under conditions of the greatest oxidative stress such as smoking and ageing."
The researchers recommended additional study to further examine these potentially protective relationships.
The study was supported by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Cancer Institute at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Source: Cancer Causes and Control Published online: "Minerals and vitamins and the risk of bladder cancer: results from the New Hampshire Study"
Green Tea May Reduce Risk Of Lung Cancer
Potent Source of Powerful Antioxidants and Phytochemicals
Smokers who did not drink green tea at all may have a 13-fold increased risk of lung cancer, compared with those who drank at least one cup per day, suggests a new study from Taiwan.
Although expert advice is clearly to avoid tobacco smoke altogether, the results suggest smokers could benefit from upping their intake of Green Tea, according to findings presented at the AACR-IASLC Joint Conference on Molecular Origins of Lung Cancer.
One in three Europeans are smokers, while in the US the figure is one in five. Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 compounds, of which 60 are known carcinogens. The oxidative stress levels of smokers are significantly greater than non-smokers, and as such there is a bigger drain on the levels of antioxidants in the body.
The new study, a hospital-based, randomised trial, builds on earlier research from epidemiological studies which reported potential lung cancer risk reductions in smokers.
The benefits may also extend to non-smokers, researchers told attendees at the conference, with non-Green Tea drinkers, both smokers and non-smokers, associated with a 5.2-fold increased risk of lung cancer, compared with those who drank at least one cup of green tea per day.
At Chung Shan Medical University in Taiwan, attendees were told that both Green Tea consumption and genotype may influence lung cancer risk. The study involved 170 lung cancer patients and 340 healthy patients as controls. Questionnaires revealed tea drinking habits, along with other demographic and lifestyle data. The researchers also genotyped the participants according to their insulin-like growth factors (IGF), all of which have all been reported to be associated with cancer risk.
The results showed that, in addition to an increase in risk for non-Green Tea drinkers, genetics seemed to affect the cancer risk. Green Tea drinkers with specific types of IGF1 reported a 66 per cent reduction in lung cancer risk as compared with Green Tea drinkers with another form of IGF1.
"Our study may represent a clue that in the case of lung cancer, smoking-induced carcinogenesis could be modulated by Green Tea consumption and the growth factor environment," said the researchers involved in the study.
