Jun 12
Red wine and green tea are not only tasty beverages, a recent study suggests they can be effective in preventing prostate cancer.
Researchers have explained how antioxidants in red wine and green tea produce a combined effect to disrupt an important cell signaling pathway necessary for prostate cancer growth.
The finding is important because it may lead to the development of drugs that could stop or slow cancer progression, or improve current treatments.
“Not only does SphK1/S1P signaling pathway play a role in prostate cancer, but it also plays a role in other cancers, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, and gastric cancers,” said Dr. Gerald Weissmann, editor-in-chief of The FASEB Journal .
Tagged with: Prostate cancer
Dec 27
Yet another benefit of drinking green tea regularly; it could delay the onset of prostate cancer.
Active compounds in green tea may slow down the progression of prostate cancer, researchers reported on Friday.
Capsules made using green tea extracts called polyphenols lowered levels of proteins that tumors use to grow, the researchers found.
Made by Polyphenon Pharma, the capsules called Polyphenon E contain epigallocatechin gallate or EGCG, a green tea extract that has antioxidant properties.
Jim Cardelli of Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in Shreveport and colleagues tested 26 prostate cancer patients, aged from 41 to 68.
Each took four Polyphenon E capsules a day — equivalent to drinking 12 cups of green tea — for about a month before they had their prostates removed.
Blood tests showed levels of three proteins associated with the growth and spread of prostate cancer fell. Hepatocyte growth factor or HGF fell 18.9 percent on average, vascular endothelial growth factor or VEGF fell by 9.9 percent and prostate specific antigen PSA fell by 10.4 percent, they reported in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
HGF and VEGF are produced when tumors spread and some patients showed “significant” reduction levels of more than 30 percent, Cardelli said.
Few side effects were reported and liver function of the patients remained normal.
“It’s still in an early stage. Green tea can keep cancer from growing very fast, but it may not be able to shrink tumors,” Cardelli said in a telephone interview.
Tagged with: Prostate cancer
