The Barnard Observer
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Home Picks Figures Great Investors Vault Misc Contact c2003-06 Thomas Barnard
[Disclaimer: I have found the information below largely on the internet. I make mistakes, so do your own research before changing your habits.]
[a work in progress]
Prostate Cancer
When I was about 30 I remember passing some kids playing the card game Old Maid, and remarked, “For men, I guess that would be Old Prostate.” Little did I know how true that might be.
The statistics tell us that 380,000 cases will be diagnosed each year, and 28,000 will die. What it doesn’t tell us is that there are millions of prostate sufferers – those with prostatitis or enlarged prostate, which is often called BPH (benign prostatitic hypertrophy), and those with urinary or erectile difficulties emanating from an expanding prostate.
In a young man, the size of the prostate is about 30 cc’s, but it typically gets up to 40 and 50 cc’s in middle age and consequent problems arise from this.
I have listed the substances I have found that have an effect against prostate cancer in order of their numerical effectiveness. I don’t put too much faith in the numbers. Why? Because the numbers of patients are so small. Studies with 15 test subjects or 64 test subjects just don’t have any meaning. Nevertheless:
Coenzyme Q10 – 93% success against existing cancer
See “Coenzyme Q10, a Special Case.” Don’t forget that CoQ, for which there are no prevention figures, actually works against existing cancers. Most prostate cancers can be treated for a while with hormones, such as Lupron, but usually after a few years they become hormone resistant. In a small study, 14 out of 15 hormone resistant prostate cancer sufferers saw their PSAs go down, which I read as a 93% success rate. This is further backed up by a breast cancer study showing similar happy results.
Amount taken in study: 600 mg
Green Tea
Extract – 89% effective against premalignant lesions
It has been demonstrated that prostate cancer is much lower in Chinese populations, so researchers have been trying to find the reason for this.
An Italian study of green tea showed that only one man in a group of 32 men at high risk for prostate cancer developed the disease, compared to nine in a group of 30 controls. Numerous studies had shown that green tea catechins, or pure EGCG (epigallocatechin-3-gallate) inhibited cancer cell growth in laboratory models. We wanted to conduct a clinical trial to find out whether catechins could prevent cancer in men. The answer is clearly yes.”[1]
All the men recruited for the study had high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia – premalignant lesions that presage invasive prostate cancer within one year in nearly a third of cases. Men were between 45 and 75 years of age. Vegetarians, green tea consumers, those taking antioxidants, or those taking anti-androgenic therapy were excluded.
Of the 62 in the study, 32 received 200 mg of green tea catechins 3 times per day (or 600 mg per day total), the rest got a placebo. Follow-up biopsies were administered after six months and again after one year. Only one case of prostate cancer was diagnosed in the green tea group, while nine cases were found in the control group.
Amount taken: 600 mg
Exercise – 70% less cancer risk if 3,000
calories burned per week in exercise
"A study of 12,975 men, average age 44 and tracked over a 19-year period, showed that moderate to high amounts of regular exercise reduced the risk of prostate cancer. High levels of exercise that burned off at least 3,000 calories weekly reduced the prostate risk by 70%, while moderate levels, burning off at least 2,000 calories weekly, reduced the risk by 25%, according to Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise (January 1996) "[2]
Sunlight –
Vitamin D + ibuprofen = 70% reduction in prostate cell growth
Researchers at the Stanford University of Medicine found that cancer growth in a laboratory dish can be reduced by up to 25% with Calcitriol (a form of vitamin D). They noticed that they got the same 25% reduction using NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen). But combined the two reduced prostate cell growth by 70%.[3]
Selenium – 63%
lower incidence of cancer
A Stanford researcher, James D. Brooks, MD, said that a study confirmed that higher blood levels of selenium were associated with lower risks of prostate cancer.[4]
Dr. Larry Clark’s 1996 study, mentioned previously for lung cancer, produced a whopping 63% lower incidence of prostate cancer.
As mentioned for vitamin E, look out for the results of the SELECT trial.
Garlic, onions
(allium vegetables) – 50% lower risk of prostate cancer
The National Cancer Institute
conducted a population-based study in
These results were independent of body size, intake of other foods, total calorie intake, and was more pronounced for men with localized than with advanced cancer.[5]
Vitamin E
& Tocotrienols – 32% reduction in prostate cancer incidence
There is contradictory material here.
The HOPE-TOO Study mentioned in the chapter on heart disease states
there is no beneficial connection between vitamin E and heart disease and
cancer. So bear that in mind. But then there are studies and more studies.
The Alpha-Tocopherol,
Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention (ATBC) Study demonstrated a 32%
reduction in prostate cancer incidence in response to daily 
-tocopherol
supplementation. From the ATBC Study
cohort of 29,133 Finnish men, 50–69 years old, they randomly
selected 100 incident prostate cancer case patients and matched 200
controls.[6]
In addition, results of a study
coming from
Look out for the results of the biggest prostate cancer prevention trial called SELECT (the Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial) with 35,534 participants when they closed enrollment on June 24, 2004.[8]
Tomatoes –
Lycopene – 23% lower risk of developing prostate cancer
In a population study, using the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS), a large cohort study of over 50,000 male dentists, optometrists, osteopaths, podiatrists, pharmacists, and veterinarians who were ages 40 to 75 in 1986 and following up afterwards, Edward Giovannucci, M.D., Sc.D. and colleagues at Harvard Medical School and Harvard School of Public Health tried to determine the value of tomato products against the risk of prostate cancer.
Even after accounting for other confounding factors, they established that men who ate two or more servings of tomato sauce per week had a 23% lower risk of developing prostate cancer than did men who consumed less than one serving per month. They found that tomato sauce was a better source for lycopene than watermelon, grapefruit, and other fruits and vegetables. Strawberries, although red, do not contain lycopene (however it does have prostate anti-cancer properties).[9]
Decisive amount: 2 servings of tomato sauce per week
IP6 (Inositol Hexaphosphate) – worth taking
IP6, inositol hexaphosphate, is a
component of fiber found in whole grains and legumes. Interestingly, it seems that the protective
effects of fiber against cancer come primarily from IP6 in the fiber.
IP3, a product of IP6, apparently
turns off the switch that would allow a cell to grow uncontrollably. It has also been found that IP6 together with
inositol is more effective than IP6 alone.
Dr. A. Shamsuddin, M.D., Ph.D. from the
Unlike lycopene above, for which
supplements are not shown to have the same effect as the food that contains it,
tomatoes, IP6 is more bio-available in the pure form than when it is found in
foods, such as whole grains and beans.
In animal studies and in cell cultures, the combination of IP6 with inositol works against virtually all types of cancers including breast, prostate, lung, skin, and brain as well as lymphomas and leukemia. It is reported there are no serious side effects, but remember, no human studies as of 2005.[10]
Omega 3 Oil
A study based on a population-based prospective cohort of 6272 Swedish men found that in 30 years of follow-up that men who ate no fish had a two-fold to three-fold higher frequency of prostate cancer than those who ate moderate or high amounts of fish.[11]
Pomegranates, Pomegranate Juice, ellagic acid
A University of Wisconsin-Madison study found that pomegranate extract significantly slowed the growth of cancer cells in mice that got the highest concentration of pomegranate juice. PSA levels went down.[12]
Broccoli , cabbage, cauliflower (Indoles: Indole-3-carbinol)
Research
from
Intravenous Vitamin C
Please refer to the chapter on lung cancer. Apparently, the use of intravenous vitamin C is a therapy worthy of scientific investigation.
Beta-sitosterol
It has been shown to reduce BPH symptoms, but it also has been shown in vivo to cause apoptosis in LNCaP cells. It also has a beneficial effect on cholesterol levels.[14]
Combining elements
I have not come across any studies which combine any of the elements we have discussed above. There is the SELECT study which will eventually give us the results of combining vitamin E and selenium. There is reason to think that combining will improve results is because in the breast cancer study mentioned in the chapter on coenzyme Q10, there were no deaths in the two-year study of advanced breast cancer where there were other substances in the regimen of supplements taken: vitamin C, vitamin E, beta-carotene, gamma linolenic acid, n-3 fatty acids, selenium together with secondary vitamins and minerals.