Colon Health
Calcium and Vitamin D Show Strong Promise For Colorectal Health
Supplements of Calcium and Vitamin D may promote the health of the cells in the colon and rectum, offering potential protection from tumor development, reports an important new study.
The Calcium-Vitamin D combination was found to normalise the health of cells in the colon and rectum, according to findings published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.
Researchers from Emory University, the University of Minnesota, and the National Cancer Institute and the National Institutes of Health conducted a pilot, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial in 92 men and women with a history of benign colorectal tumours.
The researchers randomly assigned the participants to receive daily calcium 2000 mg (2.0 g) and/or vitamin D supplements (800 IU), or placebo for six months.
Markers of the health of cells were found to increase in the calcium, vitamin D, and calcium plus vitamin D groups relative to the placebo, said the researchers.
"These results indicate that calcium and vitamin D promote colorectal epithelial cell differentiation and may 'normalize' the colorectal crypt proliferative zone in sporadic adenoma patients, and support further investigation of calcium and vitamin D as chemopreventive agents against colorectal neoplasms," reported the researchers.
The potential benefits for the vitamin-mineral combination in relation to colorectal cancer is important because colorectal cancer accounts for nine per cent of new cancer cases every year worldwide. The highest incidence rates are in the developed world, while Asia and Africa have the lowest incidence rates.
It remains one of the most curable cancers if diagnosis is made early.
Source: Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention November 2009, Volume 18, Pages 2933-2941 , "Effects of Vitamin D and Calcium on Proliferation and Differentiation In Normal Colon Mucosa: a Randomized Clinical Trial"
Mango Fruit Has Been Found To Prevent or Stop Certain Colon And Breast Cancer Cells, Food Scientists Find...
That's according to a new study by Texas AgriLife Research food scientists, who examined the five varieties most common in the U.S.
The tropical mango is an ancient fruit heavily consumed in many parts of the world, known to have beneficial digestive health aspects. The National Mango Board commissioned a variety of studies with several U.S. researchers to help determine its nutritional value.
As a superfood providing valuable nutrients and enzymes as well as high antioxidant levels, Mango is beneficial to health, similar to blueberry, acai and pomegranate.
The research team checked mango against cancer cells anyway, and found it prevented or stopped cancer growth in certain breast and colon cells.
" If you look at it from the physiological and nutritional standpoint, taking everything together, it would be a high-ranking super food," they noted. "It would be good to include mangoes as part of the regular diet."
The researchers tested mango polyphenol extracts in vitro on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancers. Polyphenols are the natural substances in plants associated with a variety of compounds known to promote good health.
Mango showed some impact on lung, leukemia and prostate cancers but was most effective on the most common breast and colon cancers.
"What we found is that not all cell lines are sensitive to the same extent to an anticancer agent," they explained. "But the breast and colon cancer lines underwent apotosis, or programmed cell death. Additionally, we found that when we tested normal colon cells side by side with the colon cancer cells, that the mango polyphenolics did not harm the normal cells."
Further tests on the colon cancer lines were conducted because a mango contains both small molecules that are readily absorbed and larger molecules that would not be absorbed and thus remain present in a colon.
"We found the normal cells weren't killed, so mango is not expected to be damaging in the body," they also said. "That is a general observation for any natural agent, that they target cancer cells and leave the healthy cells alone, in reasonable concentrations at least."
They evaluated polyphenolics, and more specifically gallotannins as being the class of bioactive compounds (responsible for preventing or stopping cancer cells). Tannins are polyphenols that are often bitter or drying and found in such common foods as grape seed, wine and tea.
The study found that the cell cycle, which is the division cells go through, was interrupted. This is crucial information because it indicates a possible mechanism for how the cancer cells are prevented or stopped.
"For cells that may be on the verge of mutating or being damaged, mango polyphenolics prevent this kind of damage," they said.
According to the National Mango Board, based in Winter Park, Fla., most mangoes consumed in the U.S. are grown in Mexico, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Guatemala and Haiti. Mangoes are also native to southeast Asia and India and are best produced in tropical climates. They were introduced to the United States in the late 1800s, and a few commercial acres still exist in California and Florida.
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Colorectal Cancer Increasing In Young Adults
A new study finds that in sharp contrast to the overall declining rates of colorectal cancer in the United States, incidence rates among adults younger than age 50 years are increasing.
The researchers theorize that these increases may be related to rising rates of obesity and changes in dietary patterns, including increased consumption of fast food. The study appears in the June 2009 issue of Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention. explains further studies are necessary to demonstrate specific causes for this trend and to identify potential prevention and early detection strategies.
Overall incidence rates for colorectal cancer in the United States have been on the decline since the mid-1980s, with the drop accelerating in the most recent time period. Rates are now dropping 2.8 percent per year in men and 2.2 percent per year in women, largely due to an increase in screening, particularly colonoscopy, among individuals ages 50 years and older. Screening can reduce colorectal cancer incidence by detecting and removing polyps before they become cancerous.
However, recent incidence trends among adults younger than 50 years, for whom routine screening is not recommended, have not been analyzed thoroughly. A previous study did find an increase in incidence from 1973 to 1999 for all races combined, but that study did not include 40 to 49 year-olds, who represent 73 percent of colorectal cancer patients under age 50.
In a new analysis, American Cancer Society researchers looked at trends in colorectal cancer incidence rates between 1992 and 2005 among young adults (ages 20 to 49) by sex, race/ethnicity, age, stage at diagnosis, and anatomic subsite. The study found that among individuals ages 20 to 49, incidence rates of colorectal cancer increased 1.5 percent per year in men and 1.6 percent per year in women from 1992 to 2005. Among non-Hispanic Whites, rates increased for both men and women in each 10-year age grouping (20-29, 30-39, and 40-49 years) and for every stage of diagnosis. They found the largest annual percent increase in colorectal cancer incidence was in the youngest age group (20-29 years), in whom incidence rates rose by 5.2% per year in males and 5.6% per year in females. The rises are due to a specific increase in left-sided tumors, particularly in the rectum.
The researchers address several possibilities for the increase, including rising rates of obesity, which is a major risk factor for colorectal cancer. Dietary factors may also be a significant factor. The researchers note that between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s, fast-food consumption in the United States increased 5-fold among children and 3-fold among adults.
A diet high in fast food is associated with both greater meat consumption and reduced milk consumption. Increased consumption of red and processed meats has been shown to increase risk of cancers of the distal colon and rectum, while milk and Calcium consumption have shown a protective effect against the subsites in which the rise in incidence was most prominent. The researchers conclude that the emergence of unfavorable dietary patterns in children and young adults over the past three decades may have contributed to the increase in colorectal cancer among young adults observed in the study.
Journal reference: Increase in Incidence of Colorectal Cancer Among Young Men and Women in the United States. Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers & Prevention, 2009.
Vitamin D Supplements Could Fight Crohn's Disease
A new study has found that Vitamin D, available in a wide range of supplements including multi-vitamins, cod liver oil, etc. can counter the effects of Crohn's disease.
A team of scientists from Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre and the Université de Montréal present their findings about the inflammatory bowel disease in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
"Our data suggests, for the first time, that Vitamin D deficiency can contribute to Crohn's disease," explained the researchers, specifically noting that people from northern countries, which receive less sunlight that is necessary for the fabrication of Vitamin D by the human body, are particularly vulnerable to Crohn's disease.
Vitamin D, in its active form is a hormone that binds to receptors in the body's cells. The team's interest in Vitamin D was originally in its effects in mitigating cancer. Because his results kept pointing to Vitamin D's effects on the immune system, specifically the innate immune system that acts as the body's first defense against microbial invaders, they investigated Crohn's disease. "It's a defect in innate immune handling of intestinal bacteria that leads to an inflammatory response that may lead to an autoimmune condition,"
Vitamin D acts directly on the beta defensin 2 gene, which encodes an antimicrobial peptide, and the NOD2 gene that alerts cells to the presence of invading microbes. Both Beta-defensin and NOD2 have been linked to Crohn's disease. If NOD2 is deficient or defective, it cannot combat invaders in the intestinal tract.
What's most promising about this genetic discovery, is how it can be quickly put to the test, stressed the researchers. "Siblings of patients with Crohn's disease that haven't yet developed the disease might be well advised to make sure they're vitamin D sufficient. It's something that's easy to do, with Vitamin D supplements. The vast majority of people would be candidates for Vitamin D treatment."
"This discovery is exciting, since it shows how an over-the-counter supplement such as Vitamin D could help people defend themselves against Crohn's disease," reported the scientists. "We have identified a new treatment avenue for people with Crohn's disease or other inflammatory bowel diseases."
This study was funded by a grant from McGill University.
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Omega 3 Helps Curb Precancerous Growths in People Prone to Bowel Cancer, New Study Suggests
Eicosapentaenoic acid (or EPA) an omega 3 cuts the number and size of precancerous bowel growths (polyps) in people whose genetic make-up predisposes them to bowel cancer, finds research published ahead of print in the journal Gut. Omega 3 (eicosapentaenoic acid or EPA) seems to be as effective as the prescription medicine used to treat genetic bowel polyps, but without the associated negative cardiovascular side effects.
The researchers base their findings on 55 patients, all of whom had the inherited genetic mutation that prompts the development of precancerous polyps in the bowel -- known as familial adenomatous polyposis, known as FAP.
People with FAP are at significantly increased risk of developing bowel cancer and require surgery to remove large sections of their bowel. Subsequently, some also need regular monitoring. All 55 patients had previously undergone surgery and were being monitored by endoscopy, a procedure involving a camera on the end of a flexible tube passed through the rectum.
Twenty eight of the patients were randomly assigned to six months of treatment with 2 g daily of a new highly purified form of EPA, the omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA). The other 27 were given the same amount of a dummy treatment (placebo).
Dietary omega 3 PUFA is derived from oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel, and herring.
An assessment of the number and size of polyps at the beginning and end of the six month study period revealed significant differences between the two groups of patients. The number of polyps increased by almost 10% among those treated with the placebo, but fell by more than 12% among those treated with the EPA capsules, representing a difference of almost 22.5%.
This was still clinically significant, even after taking account of influential factors, such as age and sex. Similarly, polyp size increased by more than 17% among those in the placebo group but fell by more than 12.5% in those taking the EPA capsules, representing a difference of just under 30%.
The authors note that the effects of EPA were similar to those produced by the drug Celecoxib, which is used to help curb the growth of new and existing polyps in patients with FAP.
The use of Celecoxib has been associated with harmful cardiovascular side effects in older patients. In this study, EPA produced few side effects and these were no more common than those produced by the placebo. This formulation of omega 3 might also help to prevent bowel cancer in people with the common non-familial form of bowel polyps, suggest the authors. As omega 3 PUFAs in general are safe and even good for cardiovascular health, EPA could be especially suitable for older patients at risk of both bowel cancer and heart disease, they report. Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal
