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Green Tea, Fruit Extracts Touted as Potential Cancer

Fighters

By Randy Dotinga

HealthDay ReporterFri Dec 7, 6:59 PM ET

THURSDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthDay News) -- A gel derived

from black raspberries, a fruit beverage and

old-fashioned green tea all hold potential promise as

ways to treat or prevent different types of cancer,

preliminary research suggests.

" Until now, foods have not been considered good

treatments for chronic illness, especially tackling

tumors, " Greg Jardine, a biochemist at Dr. Red

Nutraceuticals in Australia, said at a teleconference

Thursday. In fact, " foods can be medicine, " added

Jardine, co-author of a manufacturer- funded study of

a " punch " that appeared to reduce the growth of

prostate cancer in mice.

In addition to Jardine's study, two others -- one with

people and one with rats -- suggest that a black

raspberry gel can reduce oral cancer lesions and green

tea can prevent colorectal cancer.

The studies, which are all small and need further

confirmation, were presented at the American

Association for Cancer Research's Sixth Annual

International Conference on Frontiers in Cancer

Prevention Research, which runs through Dec. 8 in

Philadelphia.

Researchers at Ohio State University and the

University of Kentucky are using a gel made of

extracts from black raspberries to treat oral lesions,

which often begin as growths inside the mouth and

threaten to turn into major tumors.

" About 36 percent will progress to oral squamous cell

carcinoma, but, at this point, we don't have the

molecular tools to determine which ones will go on to

malignancy, " said Dr. Mallery, a professor in

the Department of Oral Maxillofacial Surgery and

Pathology at Ohio State University's College of

Dentistry.

About 7,500 people in the United States die each year

of oral cancer, according to American Cancer Society

statistics, and 34,000 new cases are diagnosed

annually.

The researchers assigned 30 patients -- 20 with

precancerous lesions and 10 healthy patients -- to

apply the gel several times a day. After six weeks of

treatment, the grade of the lesions decreased in 35

percent of patients, while it stayed steady in 45

percent of patients and grew in 20 percent, Mallery

said.

Patients whose tumors had progressed the least seemed

to do the best after undergoing the gel treatment,

Mallery said. None of the patients reported side

effects.

Why does the gel appear to work? According to Mallery,

the active agents appear to be " those chemicals that

give it a very rich purple color. " The study authors

suspect that the chemicals may help " re-educate " tumor

cells, reversing their march toward cancer.

In another study, Australian researchers -- funded by

Dr. Red Nutraceuticals, the maker of an antioxidant-

boosted beverage called " Blueberry Punch " -- gave the

drink to mice with tumors that were considered

equivalent to prostate cancer in humans.

The tumors were 25 percent smaller in eight mice that

drank the punch for two weeks, compared to eight mice

that did not drink the punch. Jardine said the next

step is to figure out if the punch would have a

beneficial effect in men. The punch, designed to be a

health aid, is sold in Australia and in New Zealand,

and is made of fruit concentrates and a variety of

extracts, as well as tarragon, turmeric and ginger, he

said.

In the third study, researchers from Rutgers

University in New Jersey fed chemicals known as

polyphenols from green tea to rats that had colorectal

cancer. The polyphenols appeared to reduce the size of

tumors by 45 percent, the study authors said.

It's not clear if the polyphenols would have a similar

benefit in humans, and the equivalent amount of tea

consumption in people would be hefty -- four to six

cups a day, the researchers said.

More information

To learn more about colorectal cancer, visit the U.S.

National Institutes of Heath.

Copyright © 2007 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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