Compounds in pomegranate juice found to trigger cancer cell death

Compounds in pomegranate juice found to trigger cancer cell death

Friday, December 14, 2018 by: Michelle Simmons
 

(Natural News) With proper dietary supplementation with anti-inflammatory and antioxidant agents, cancer may be prevented or slowed down. One of these powerful anti-cancer agents is pomegranate. According to research, pomegranate juice and pomegranate extract contain powerful healing chemical compounds such as luteolin and ellagic acid that effectively work together to help prevent cancer cell growth, particularly prostate cancer cells.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancer types, affecting one in nine men. It is also the second leading cause of death from cancer among American men.

Researchers exposed human prostate cancer cells to pomegranate fruit extract. Exposure to the extract caused the cancer cells to immediately produce substances that cause apoptosis, which is the programmed cell death in cancer cells. This process controls the destruction of potentially cancerous tissue in the body.

In another experiment, researchers fed mice with cancer with pomegranate fruit extract. Consumption of pomegranate fruit extract significantly inhibited tumor growth and caused a dramatic drop in an important prostate antigen. With these findings, the researchers concluded that pomegranate juice could help prevent prostate cancer and slow down its development.

In a more in-depth study on pomegranate compounds, German researchers searched for ways to reverse or slow down tumor growth in some types of prostate cancer. They evaluated a variety of pomegranate extract forms, such as those from the seeds, juice, and fruit oils.

The researchers found that pomegranate extracts work together with several important mechanisms to help hamper the growth of cancer cells, which is in contrast to the drugs used in chemotherapy that only work through one mechanism. Eventually, this will cause cancer cells to be immune to chemotherapy......more here