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Pomegranates Inhibit Cancer Growth, Say Researchers; Fruit Juice Was Tested on Prostate Cells, Mice

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 15:00 CDT

By JOHN FAUBER, MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

MILWAUKEE - Pomegranates, the loneliest fruit in the produce section, could be a man's best friend.

Revered in legend and ignored by most shoppers, the fruit inhibited the growth of prostate cancer cells in a laboratory dish and also slowed the growth of human prostate cancer cells injected into mice, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison study published Tuesday.

In addition, prostate-specific antigen, or PSA, the traditional marker used to test for prostate cancer, was lowered substantially in mice that were fed pomegranate juice.

"This work adds to a growing body of evidence that diet and lifestyle factors may have an important influence on prostate carcinogenesis," said Howard Parnes, a physician at the National Cancer Institute.

Pomegranate extract would be a good compound to study in a human clinical trial, said Parnes, chief of the prostate and urologic cancer research group in the division of cancer prevention.

He noted that several other dietary substances including selenium, vitamin E, lycopene (a tomato-based compound), green tea and soy protein already are being tested in clinical trials funded by the cancer institute, which is part of the National Institutes of Health.

The UW study is the first published research to show that the antioxidant-rich juice of pomegranates might retard the growth of prostate cancer tumors.

However, researchers cautioned that the findings, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, represent only lab and animal research. Before pomegranates can be recommended, the effectiveness will have to shown in a human clinical trial.

Pomegranates have been studied extensively in recent years, with findings suggesting the fruit may be beneficial in preventing heart disease, cancer and even erectile dysfunction.

Earlier this month, a clinical trial involving 45 heart disease patients showed that drinking one glass of the juice a day for three months improved blood flow to the heart.

It is believed that pomegranate juice inhibits the build-up of plaque in arteries.

"Their heart disease began to reverse," said senior author Dean Ornish, founder of the Preventive Medicine Institute and professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

Source: Record, The; Bergen County, N.J.

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