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Reprinted from a story on CNN.com Tuesday, November 5, 2002 referring to a story in the November 2002 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute - Posted: 4:05 PM EST (2105 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A diet rich in garlic, shallots and onions may cut the risk of prostate cancer in half, according to a study.
The study, appearing this week in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, is based on interviews with 238 men with prostate cancer and 471 men who were free of the disease.
Men in the study, all residents of Shanghai, China, were asked how frequently they ate 122 food items.
The results showed that those who ate more than a third of an ounce (nine grams) a day from the allium food group were about 50 percent less likely to have prostate cancer than those who ate less of the foods. The allium food group includes garlic, scallions, chives, leeks and onions.
Scallions seemed to be the most protective. According to the study, men who ate about a tenth of an ounce or more a day of scallions reduced their prostate cancer risk by about 70 percent. For garlic consumption of the same amount, the prostate cancer risk was reduced by about 53 percent.
"The reduced risk of prostate cancer associated with allium vegetables was independent of body size, intake of other foods and total calorie intake and was more pronounced for men with localized than with advanced prostate cancer," the study authors reported.
The authors acknowledged that there were "several potential limitations" to the study, including its dependence on self-reported food consumption data.
The study was conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute, one of the National Institutes of Health, and at the Shanghai Cancer Institute in Shanghai, China.
Interestingly, an article in the same November 2002 issue of JNCI described the success of PC-Spes in inhibiting the growth of both androgen dependent and androgen independent prostate cancer cell lines. It was only one of numerous studies showing the beneficial effects of PC-Spes, a mixture of eight natural herbs, on prostate cancer. There were studies done at five major cancer hospitals a couple of years and all showed PC-Spes to be more effective in inhibiting the growth of prostate cancer while exhibiting fewer and less severe side effects than anything else available at that time and for a small fraction of the cost.
The Abstract excerpted from JNCI:
Effects of the Herbal Extract PC-SPES on Microtubule Dynamics and Paclitaxel-Mediated Prostate Tumor Growth Inhibition
Michael J. Bonham, Anna Galkin, Bruce Montgomery, William L. Stahl, David Agus, Peter S. Nelson
Affiliations of authors: M. J. Bonham, Division of Human Biology, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA; A. Galkin, D. Agus, Cedars-Sinai Prostate Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA; B. Montgomery, W. L. Stahl, Division of Medical Oncology, Veterans Administration Hospital, Seattle; P. S. Nelson, Divisions of Human Biology and Clinical Research, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.
Background: PC-SPES is a botanical preparation shown to have efficacy in patients with androgen-dependent and androgen-independent prostate carcinoma. Several herbal constituents in PC-SPES inhibit tumor growth through cell cycle arrest and apoptosis, although the mechanisms of these activities are poorly defined. We sought to identify PC-SPES-induced changes in gene expression, specifically in those genes encoding cytoskeletal proteins that could be associated with PC-SPES-induced cytoxicity. Methods: LNCaP prostate carcinoma cells were treated with PC-SPES, and changes in gene expression were determined by complementary DNA (cDNA) microarray hybridization and northern blot analyses. PC-SPES and paclitaxel, a microtubule-stabilizing drug, effects on microtubules were assessed by immunofluorescence of treated cells and by in vitro tubulin polymerization assays. In vivo effects of PC-SPES and paclitaxel were assessed using CWR22R androgen-independent prostate cancer xenografts. All statistical tests were two-sided. Results: PC-SPES treatment of LNCaP cells for 24 hours altered the expression of 17 cytoskeletal genes. mRNA levels of -tubulin decreased sevenfold. Although paclitaxel stabilized and PC-SPES treatment disrupted microtubule architecture in LNCaP cells, the combination of both agents had an intermediate effect. PC-SPES inhibited tubulin polymerization in vitro, even in the presence of paclitaxel. Compared with tumors in control mice (mean tumor volume = 2983 mm3, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 2380 to 3586 mm3), tumors were statistically significantly smaller in mice that received PC-SPES (mean tumor volume = 2018 mm3, 95% CI = 1450 to 2568 mm3; P = .028), paclitaxel (mean tumor volume = 1340 mm3, 95% CI = 697 to 1983 mm3; P<.001), or the combination of PC-SPES and paclitaxel (mean tumor volume = 1955 mm3, 95% CI = 1260 to 2650 mm3; P = .034). Conclusion: PC-SPES may interfere with microtubule polymerization. This activity has implications for the clinical management of patients with advanced prostate cancer who may be taking PC-SPES concurrently with microtubule-modulating chemotherapeutic agents, such as paclitaxel.
Sounds like good news for prostate cancer patients, but it isn't necessarily so. The FDA suddenly pulled it off the market in February of 2002 claiming it contained some undisclosed prescription drugs - the company making it, BotanicLab went out of business in June. The good news for prostate cancer patients is that there is another product, called PC-Hope, on the market now with the same combination of herbs, plus a couple more things that seems to be about as good, but I'm not yet aware of any studies that confirm its efficacy, but you can bet that I'll be checking into it.
FDA Medwatch announcement:
PC SPES, SPES (BotanicLab)
Audience: Urologists, Consumers
Consumers were warned to stop using the dietary supplement / herbal products PC SPES and SPES capsules because they contain undeclared prescription drug ingredients that could cause serious health effects if not taken under medical supervision.
Laboratory analysis of the products by the California Department of Health Services found PC SPES contains warfarin and SPES contains alprazolam. Warfarin and alprazolam are available only by prescription and sold either by their generic names or the trade names, Coumadin and Xanax.
PC SPES and SPES are respectively marketed "for prostate health" and strengthening the immune system. BotanicLab, the manufacturer of the products, voluntarily recalled PC SPES and SPES nationwide.
My question here is if PC-SPES was as effective as all the studies showed it to be, why wasn't the medical community jumping all over it as a tool to help patients instead of trying to suppress it because people might buy it instead of the more expensive, less effective pharmaceuticals? The primary reason for the five hospital series of studies to begin with seems to be to expose it as a fraud; instead they all supported its merit, thus flabbergasting the medical community. Even if it did contain an undisclosed prescription drug, if it was as efficacious as the studies showed it to be, shouldn't this combination of herbs and whatever else be looked upon as an effective therapy and put into practice rather than thrown out since it could mean a better quality of life for prostate cancer patients, even if only used in a palliative program for those whose cancer is beyond salvation?
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