Washington, Sept. 27: A new study by University of Wisconsin Medical School researchers states that pomegranate juice may fight against prostate cancer, which is the most common invasive cancer.
Previous studies have shown that pomegranate is rich in anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activity and is effective against tumors in mouse skin. In fact, pomegranate juice has higher anti-oxidant activity than do red wine and green tea, both of whichappear promising as anti-cancer agents.
The UW research team aimed to find out if the extract from pomegranates would not only kill existing cancer, but help prevent cancer from starting or progressing. Using human prostate cancer cells, the team first evaluated the fruit extract’s
effect, at various doses, on those cells cultured in laboratory dishes.
They found a ‘dose-dependent’ effect – in other words, the higher
the dose of pomegranate extract the cells received, the more
cells died.
The research team then progressed to tests in mice that had been
injected with prostate cancer cells from humans and developed
malignancies.
The 24 mice were randomly divided into three groups. The control
group received normal drinking water, while the animals in the
second and third groups had their drinking water supplemented
with .1 percent and .2 percent pomegranate extract respectively.
The doses for the mice were chosen to parallel how much
pomegranate juice a typical healthy human might be willing to eat
or drink daily.
The mice receiving the higher concentration of pomegranate
extract showed significant slowing of their cancer progression
and a decrease in the levels of prostate-specific antigen (PSA),
a marker used to indicate the presence of prostate cancer in
humans. The animals that received only water had tumors that grew
much faster than those in the animals treated with pomegranate
extract.