Originally published February 26 2006
Cancer researcher believes soy and broccoli offer protection against the disease
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Researcher Eliot Rosen believes that compounds in broccoli and soy could offer significant protection against a variety of cancers.
Epidemiological and animal studies have shown that diets high in such vegetables resulted in less instances of certain cancers, while a trial supplementing the diet with I3C reported the prevention of oestrogen-dependent tumours.
This led researchers to test the effect of I3C, and genistein, on human breast and prostate cancer cell cultures.
Both of these genes produce proteins, also called BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are responsible for repairing damaged DNA in cells.
"These studies show reproducible induction of BRCA1 and BRCA2 by I3C, with increases in BRCA1 and BRCA2 protein levels at an I3C dose of 60 micromoles at 24 hours of five to ten fold for the breast cancer cell lines and eight to sixteen fold for the prostate cancer cell lines," wrote lead author S. Fan.
When genistein was studied independently, a five-micromole dose increased BRCA levels four to twelve fold for breast cancer cells, and five to seventeen fold for the prostate cancer cells.
The mechanism by which I3C and genistein can protect against cancer is proposed to be via an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-like pathway.
By stressing the ER, BRCA is induced and thereby protects against DNA damage.
Our findings suggest a clear molecular process that would explain the connection between diet and cancer prevention," said Prof Rosen.
Further study is needed to investigate toxicity levels that may be associated with higher doses, and then to take the intervention out of cell cultures and into human clinical trials.
Professor John Toy, medical director of Cancer Research UK, said: "We still don't know if this is exactly how these chemicals might act in every day life.
The evidence is building that these chemical compounds act on some of the genes inside cells that help prevent cancer developing.
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