Pomegranate Seed Oil Causes Cancer Cells To Self-Destruct.

2001 SEP 20 - (NewsRx.com & NewsRx.net) --

Israeli researchers have found that pomegranates could have important implications for breast cancer treatment and the safety of estrogen replacement therapy.

Technion-Israel Institute of Technology researchers presented two studies at an international conference in Madrid, Spain, in June 2001, showing that pomegranate seed oil triggers apoptosis - a self-destruct mechanism - in breast cancer cells. Furthermore, pomegranate juice can be toxic to most estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells, while leaving normal breast cells largely unaffected. Estrogen is a hormone prescribed to protect postmenopausal women against heart disease and osteoporosis.

"Pomegranates seem to replace the estrogen often prescribed to protect postmenopausal women against heart disease and osteoporosis, while selectively destroying estrogen-dependent cancer cells," explained Dr. Ephraim Lansky, who headed the studies.

In the first study, laboratory-grown breast cancer cells were treated for three days with pomegranate seed oil. The researchers observed apoptosis in 37% to 56% of the cancer cells, depending on the dose of oil applied.

In the second study, both normal and cancerous breast cells were exposed to pomegranate wine and pomegranate peel extracts, which contain polyphenols (powerful antioxidants). The vast majority of the normal cells remained unaffected by the two pomegranate derivatives. But more than 75% of the estrogen-dependent cancer cells, and approximately half of the non-estrogen dependent cancer cells were destroyed by exposure to these same pomegranate products.

Dr. Martin Goldman, a New York-based board-certified internist and life medicine specialist, notes, "This is apparently a safe substance that could be helpful to many people, especially women at high-risk for developing breast cancer."