Pomegranate preparations may help curb cancer growth
Published December 30th, 2006
Pomegranate fruit extract may help stop growth of lung cancer in humans, a new study suggests. Early studies have suggested that drinking pomegranate juice may help prevent progression of prostate cancer.
Lung cancer, a common and deadly cancer, is often found in its late stage and its prognosis resulting from conventional treatment is poor. Prostate cancer is not as deadly, but strikes 230,000 Americans each year, resulting in about 100,000 deaths a year.
As more and more people turn to alternative treatments, some researchers have aimed to find active dietary substances and use them to prevent and or cure cancer.
In the current study, Dr. Hasan Mukhtar, Halgaer Professor of Cancer Research at University of Wisconsin-Madison and colleagues intended to find if pomegranate fruit extract (PFE) has any inhibitory effect on growth of lung cancer cells.
The PFE was prepared by squeezing the edible portion of pomegranate fruit in 70% acetone and 30% water. Then the extract was filtered, freeze-dried and stored at -4 oC.
In the study, both normal human bronchial epithelial cells (NHBE) and human lung carcinoma A549 cells in vitro were treated with PFE for 72 hours.
After the treatment, the cancer cells significantly lost their viability while the normal cells did not get affected significantly, according to the study. Using 150 microgram PFE per ml, the cancer cell viability was reduced by 47 percent.
Related Articles
