Spicing up protection of the prostate

Here's another way to spice up your health: Researchers from Rutgers University have found that turmeric, a spice used in curry dishes, stops prostate cancer cells from dividing in animals.

"We wanted to see whether there was a link between diet and prostate cancer," said Ah-Ng Tony Kong, a professor of pharmaceutics at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Indeed, the researchers found that one month of treatment with turmeric, also known as curcumin, along with phenethyl isothiocyanate (also known as PEITC), was enough to reduce prostate tumors by 60 to 70 percent.

Each substance worked to stop the cancer growth, but they offered the most benefit together. The researchers are now designing a clinical trial to test this combination in men with prostate cancer.

"It is too early to know how much is necessary to have an effect," Kong said. Curry has also popped up in other research laboratories, where it has been tested with positive results against skin cancer cells, breast cancer cells and the sticky plaque that builds up between brain cells in patients with Alzheimer's disease in laboratory studies.

Foods that are high in PEITC include watercress, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, cauliflower, kohlrabi and turnips. "The bottom line is that PEITC and curcumin, alone or in combination, demonstrate significant cancer-preventive qualities in laboratory mice, and the combination of PEITC and curcumin could be effective in treating established prostate cancers," Kong said.

The findings were published in the latest issue of the journal Cancer Research.

The researchers injected the mice with curcumin or PEITC, alone or in combination, three times a week for four weeks, beginning a day before the introduction of the prostate cancer cells. The nutrient treatment had no effect, however, on the tumor growth in animals with advanced disease.