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Ginger, pepper treat difficult cancers |
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April 4, 2006
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Ginger can kill ovarian cancer cells while the compound that makes peppers hot can shrink
pancreatic tumors, researchers told a conference on Tuesday.
Their studies add to a growing body of evidence that at
least some popular spices might slow or prevent the growth of cancer.
The study on ginger was done using cells in a
lab dish, which is a long way from finding that it works in actual cancer patients, but it is the first step to testing the
idea.
Dr. Rebecca Liu, an assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Michigan Comprehensive
Cancer Center, and colleagues tested ginger powder dissolved in solution by putting it on ovarian cancer cell cultures.
It
killed the ovarian cancer cells in two different ways -- through a self-destruction process called apoptosis and through autophagy
in which cells digest themselves, the researchers told a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"Most
ovarian cancer patients develop recurrent disease that eventually becomes resistant to standard chemotherapy, which is associated
with resistance to apoptosis," Liu said in a statement.
"If ginger can cause autophagic cell death in addition to apoptosis,
it may circumvent resistance to conventional chemotherapy."
Ovarian cancer kills 16,000 out of the 22,000 U.S. women
who are diagnosed with it every year, according to the American Cancer Society.
Ginger has been shown to help control
inflammation, which can contribute to the development of ovarian cancer cells.
"In multiple ovarian cancer cell lines,
we found that ginger-induced cell death at a similar or better rate than the platinum-based chemotherapy drugs typically used
to treat ovarian cancer," said Dr. Jennifer Rhode, who helped work on the study.
A second study found that capsaicin,
which makes chili peppers hot, fed to mice caused apoptosis death in pancreatic cancer cells, said Sanjay Srivastava of the
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
"Capsaicin triggered the cancerous cells to die off and significantly reduced the size of the tumors," he said.
The
spicy compound killed pancreatic tumor cells but did not affect normal, healthy pancreas cells, researchers told the AACR
meeting.
Last year the same team reported similar results with pancreatic cells in lab dishes. Pancreatic cancer is
highly deadly, killing 31,000 of the 32,000 it will be diagnosed in this year.
Last month researchers in Los Angeles
reported that capsaicin killed prostate tumor cells. Other studies have shown that turmeric, a yellow spice used widely in
Indian cooking, may help stop the spread of lung cancer and breast cancer in mice. |
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| Click on the picture above to find out more information |
Food Guide Pyramid is a practical tool to help you make food choices that are consistent with the Dietary Guidelines
for Americans. Using the Pyramid enables you to eat a variety of foods daily so that you can get the nutrients you need.
To make the most of the Pyramid, you need to know what counts as a serving.
| Food Group |
Serving Size |
| Vegetable |
1 cup raw, leafy vegetables, 1/2 cup cooked or chopped raw vegetables or 3/4 cup vegetable juice |
| Bread |
1 slice bread, 1/2 bagel or English muffin, 1 ounce ready-to-eat cereal, 1/2 cup cooked cereal, rice or pasta, or 5-6
small crackers |
| Fruit |
1 medium piece of fruit, 1/2 cup mixed fruit or 3/4 cup fruit juice |
| Milk |
1 cup milk or yogurt, 1-1/2 ounces naural cheese or 2 ounces process cheese |
| Meat |
2-3 ounces cooked lean meat, poultry or fish (about the size of a deck of cards.) Other foods which count as 1 ounce meat;
1/2 cup cooked dry beans, 1 egg, 2 tablespoons peanut butter or 1/2 cup nuts |
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| Click on the picture above to learn more |
Most parents wouldn't dream of giving their kids a toasty cup of coffee, but they may routinely serve soft drinks
containing caffeine. Although it's likely that your child will ingest caffeine at some time, it's a good idea to keep caffeine
consumption to a minimum, especially in younger children.
Although the United States hasn't yet developed guidelines for caffeine intake and kids, Canadian guidelines
recommend that preschool children get no more than 45 milligrams of caffeine a day. That's equivalent to the average amount
of caffeine found in a 12-ounce (355-milliliter) can of soda or four 1.5-ounce (43-gram) milk chocolate bars.
What's Caffeine and How Does It Affect Kids?
A stimulant that affects
children and adults similarly, caffeine is a drug that's naturally produced in the leaves and seeds of many plants. Caffeine
is also made artificially and added to certain foods. Caffeine is defined as a drug...............................
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