Pomegranate juice affects prostate cancer -study

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Pomegranate juice, a deep red juice
becoming popular as a health drink, works against prostate
cancer cells in lab dishes and in mice, U.S. researchers
reported on Tuesday.

Prostate tumors shrank in mice infected with human prostate
tumors who drank pomegranate juice, the researchers report in
this week’s issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.

The juice is rich in antioxidants — chemicals that give
fruits and vegetables their deep colors and which also act
against the chemicals that damage cells, leading to cancer and
other disease.

“Our study — while early — adds to growing evidence that
pomegranates contain very powerful agents against cancer,
particularly prostate cancer,” said Dr. Hasan Mukhtar, a
professor of dermatology at the University of Wisconsin Medical
School, who led the study.

“There is good reason now to test this fruit in humans —
both for cancer prevention and for treatment,” he said in a
statement.

It is a far step from treating mice infected with human
cancer to treating people, but other studies have also
suggested pomegranate juice and other antioxidant-rich foods
may help fight tumors.

Prostate cancer is the second-biggest cancer killer of men
after lung cancer, killing 30,000 this year, according to the
American Cancer Society. It will be diagnosed in more than
230,000 U.S. men, many of whom will choose not to be treated
but rather to watch a slow-growing tumor carefully.