Brett Smith for redOrbit.com – @ParkstBrett
Always eat your vegetables kids!
A new study from the University of Pittsburgh has found that a broccoli sprout extract can actually protect against deadly oral cancers in mice and could be a therapeutic remedy for human patients.
Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) meeting in Philadelphia this week, the new study will form the basis of clinical trials to be conducted later this year.
Speaking with redOrbit, study author Dr. Julie Bauman said that the study focused on caused by smoking and other ‘environmental’ factors.
“We are looking at a model of environmental carcinogenesis,” said Bauman, co-director of the UPMC Head and Neck Cancer Center of Excellence. “So this is related to cancers that are driven by tobacco, alcohol and there’s overlap with other environmental carcinogens, such as air pollution.”
“People who are cured of head and neck cancer are still at very high risk for a second cancer in their mouth or throat, and, unfortunately, these second cancers are commonly fatal,” Bauman also noted in a press release. “So we’re developing a safe, natural molecule found in cruciferous vegetables to protect the oral lining where these cancers form.”
All hail sulforaphane
In the study, researchers provided mice genetically-predisposed to cancer with a high concentration of sulforaphane – a compound found in broccoli and other vegetable that past studies have shown can have a positive effect against cancer. The team found that it markedly lowered the incidence and numbers of tumors in mice.
The team also gave 10 healthy volunteers fruit juice mixed with sulforaphane-rich extract and saw that volunteers had no negative effects from the extract. They also saw that the extract was absorbed and sent to at-risk oral tissues.
The upcoming clinical trial is expected to include 40 participants who have been successfully treated for head and neck cancer. The volunteers will routinely take capsules containing broccoli seed powder to figure out if they can accept the regimen and if it has enough of an effect on their oral lining to protect against cancer. After that, larger clinical trials might be warranted.
Bauman told redOrbit that the research is part of the effort toward “green chemoprevention”, where seed preparations or plant extracts are used to prevent disease.
“There’s this move toward green chemoprevention in the spirit preventing cancer and there is an increasing interest in food-based products, such as sulforophane, in higher doses to therapeutically treat cancer,” she said. “Although that’s very in its development.”
Hold your horses
For those of you thinking about running out and grabbing some sulforaphane supplements, Bauman noted that her research involved a highly-refined form of the compound, which isn’t the same as products available on store shelves.
“Because it’s a clinical trial and it’s subject to very high quality assurance and quality control criteria, and we need to know exactly what we’re giving – it’s not available for commercial use,” she said.
She added that the extract is known for its unpleasant taste and proclivity for causing flatulence.
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