CULTIVATING THE ANTICANCER GARDEN

[Guest guest]

CULTIVATING THE ANTICANCER GARDEN

http://www.cancerdecisions.com/051406.html

 

There are over 70 million gardeners in the United States, and

countless more worldwide. For many of us, this is the time of year

to finally stop vacillating and decide which seeds and plants are

going to go into the ground. I spend my summers in a cool climate

and the growing season is rather short. I try to make planting

choices with one eye on my plants' anticancer potential. So let's

see how a few common garden varieties stack up, especially in the

light of recent scientific studies.

 

Last year, I thinned 50 feet of red raspberries and transplanted the

remaining canes into 30 additional feet in a sunny area behind the

house. Soon I'll find out how well this no-cost maneuver has worked.

If these canes are not productive, I will buy some new plants from

the local nursery and may even put in a row of black raspberries,

just for a change of pace. I need to have a superabundance of

berries because the resident gremlins - my grandchildren, who do

most of the picking - extract a tax in fresh berries whenever they

go to work. In addition, a young lady of the household appropriates

the lioness's share for jams and jellies. (I know, I know – sugar is

bad for you, but a little raspberry jam evokes a Proustian

remembrance of summer past on a chilly winter morning.)

 

What else can berries do for you? They are among the most potent and

readily available sources of antioxidants on the planet. A few years

back, wild blueberries were found to have a super high score on the

antioxidant (ORAC) scale. Mainers crowed – you would have thought

the Black Bears had won the A-10 football conference.

 

But no one has a monopoly in the berry sweepstakes. Scientists at

Ohio State University have now weighed in with favorable reports of

their own on black raspberries, the kind that I generally gather in

the sunny edges of woodland clearings. In 2006, these Buckeye State

scientists studied the cancer preventing effects of black raspberry

extracts on a model of esophageal cancer in mice. Esophageal cancer

is difficult to treat, and so any positive news on this front is

most welcome. Tumor-bearing animals were fed a diet containing 5

percent black raspberries (more than humans are likely to consume,

but good at bringing out effects in a study). After 25 weeks on this

regimen, mice that ate black raspberries had approximately half as

many tumors as control animals (3.78 vs. 2.23).

 

No one is quite sure exactly how this tumor-suppressing effect

works. Black raspberries are a natural COX-2 inhibitor, and we saw

in previous newsletters how Celebrex, a synthetic COX-2 inhibitor,

reduced the formation of colon polyps. So perhaps the same mechanism

is at work – although I would be dumbfounded if black raspberries

also caused cardiovascular disease, the way Celebrex did in the

latest studies. Raspberries also reduced certain other markers of

cancer formation. The scientists said it had a " novel tumor

suppressive role.... " (Chen 2006). So how's that for a pleasurable

way of helping to prevent a deadly disease?

 

Another plant that I have in my garden is horseradish (Armoracia

rusticana). Its leaves grow absolutely huge. Usually once per

summer, my garden helpers, mistaking them for the pesky comfrey that

is always ready, willing and able to invade the planting beds, mow

the horseradishes down to the ground. The redoubtable plant doesn't

seem to mind - the leaves pop right up by the next mowing. Anyway,

it is the roots that you want for making horseradish sauce, not the

leaves.

 

Last year, scientists at Michigan State University found that both

common horseradish and the extra-pungent Japanese wasabi (Wasabia

japonica) contained certain ingredients called monogalactosyl

diacylglycerides. These too were found to restrict the growth of

cancer cells. Three active ingredients in horseradish and two from

wasabi were tested. Compound no. 3 from horseradish inhibited the

proliferation of colon cancer cells by as much as 68.4 percent and

inhibited lung cancer cells by as much as 71 percent. Compound no. 4

from wasabi inhibited the growth of colon, lung and stomach cancer

cells by as much as 44 percent (Weil 2005). These are encouraging

results.

 

You can buy reasonably fresh horseradish from the supermarket's

dairy case. (Look for the kind that has nothing but ground root and

a little vinegar.) Alternatively you can make a much better

horseradish sauce yourself if you have a spade to excavate your two-

year roots. You will also need a sturdy vegetable peeler and a

blender or food processor. You can then mix the macerated homegrown

horseradish with vinegar or with sour cream.

 

 

A Surprising Herb

 

In the herb department, I wouldn't be without feverfew. Many readers

know the feverfew plant (Tanacetum parthenium), a member of the

Chrysanthemum family, sometimes called bachelor's buttons. This is a

cheerful-looking perennial, with a profusion of white pompon-like

blooms - like a shower of tiny daisies.

 

As the name implies, this is a traditional remedy for fevers. It

also has a long association with the relief of migraines. (I keep

some feverfew pills in the medicine chest in case any of my summer

visitors are plagued with that mysterious form of torture.) But

feverfew is particularly interesting for its anticancer potential.

 

You may remember from my earlier newsletters that scientists are now

reevaluating all cancer drugs for their effect on malignant stem

cells. These are the primitive cells that appear to be fundamentally

responsible for the malignant dimensions of cancer. Many

conventional cancer drugs are turning out to have a limited ability

to kill these cells. That is why feverfew is so interesting.

 

Scientists at the University of Rochester Medical Center have found

that an extract of feverfew is effective against a type of human

leukemia. Monica L. Guzman, PhD, and Craig T. Jordan, PhD, reported

that feverfew extracts kill malignant stem cells like no other

single therapy they have tested. The active ingredient is derived

from parthenolide, one of a class of sesquiterpene lactones found in

the plant. The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has been

sufficiently excited by this work to accept it into the rapid access

program, which aims to move experimental drugs from the laboratory

to human clinical trials as quickly as possible.

 

" This research is a very important step in setting the stage for

future development of a new therapy for leukemia, " said Dr.

Jordan. " We have proof that we can kill leukemia stem cells with

this type of agent, and that is good news. "

 

What is particularly exciting is that this feverfew extract is the

first agent known to destroy myeloid leukemia at the level of the

stem cells. Increasingly, cancer research is homing in on these

primordial cells as the source of cancer. An increasing number of

scientists believe that unless cancer is attacked at this level it

can rarely be controlled, much less cured.

 

A 2006 study from Clemson University in North Carolina showed that

parthenolide, considered the primary bioactive compound in golden

feverfew, has anti-tumor activity. The scientists studied it against

two human breast cancer and one human cervical cancer cell

line. " Feverfew...extract inhibited the growth of all three types of

cancer cells, " they wrote. Of four feverfew components, parthenolide

showed the highest inhibitory effect, although the other compounds

work in concert with it in inhibiting cancer.

 

A 2004 phase I clinical trial from Purdue University in Indiana gave

patients oral doses of feverfew, with up to 4 milligrams (mg) of

parthenolide. The daily oral tablet was " well tolerated without dose-

limiting toxicity. " However, curiously, it did not provide

detectable concentrations in the blood. So its exact mode of action

remains a mystery (Currey 2004).

 

You can buy feverfew capsules in the health food store or over the

Internet. For instance, one popular preparation of feverfew leaf

sells for around 5¢ per 380 mg capsule. The manufacturer recommends

one capsule three times per day, which brings the cost to around 15¢

to 20¢ per day. (This is considerably less expensive than many

poorly documented anticancer drugs, such as Avastin, now selling for

$100,000 per year.) The extract, Tanacet, used in the above-

mentioned phase I clinical trial, is sometimes available over the

Internet, as well.

 

You can also grow feverfew yourself. Johnny's Selected Seeds of

Winslow, Maine, one of my favorite providers, offers 500 organically

grown feverfew seeds for just $3.20. This cheerful plant is a

perennial in temperate climates and will self-seed in colder

climates. So a $3.20 investment can provide you with all the

feverfew you are ever likely to need. No one can guarantee this herb

will have any clinical anticancer effects. But, at the very least,

these little charmers will adorn your kitchen table with a bouquet

that is, to me, the very essence of summer.

 

 

 

 

--Ralph W. Moss, Ph.D.

 

 

---

-----------

 

---

-----------

 

References:

 

Chen T, Hwang H, Rose ME, Nines RG, Stoner GD. Chemopreventive

properties of black raspberries in N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine-

induced rat esophageal tumorigenesis: down-regulation of

cyclooxygenase-2, inducible nitric oxide synthase, and c-Jun. Cancer

Res. 2006;66:2853-2859.

 

Curry EA 3rd, Murry DJ, Yoder C, et al. Phase I dose escalation

trial of feverfew with standardized doses of parthenolide in

patients with cancer. Invest New Drugs. 2004;22:299-305.

 

Weil MJ, Zhang Y, Nair MG. Tumor cell proliferation and

cyclooxygenase inhibitory constituents in horseradish (Armoracia

rusticana) and Wasabi (Wasabia japonica). J Agric Food Chem.

2005;53:1440-1444.