Nutrients, Diet and Herbs that Lower Your Risk for Pancreatic Cancer

Pancreatic cancer will kill over 33,000 people this year. Is research coming up with any answers in its prevention? In researching the information in this article, I did find some studies that show promise for lowering your risk for this cancer.

New Research in the Prevention Of Pancreatic Cancer:

Diet: A diet of organic fruits, vegetables, and whole grains lower your risk for pancreatic cancer. Reducing your intake of red meat is part of lowering risk factors. Red meat, if eaten, should be organic. Limonene, a phytochemical, found in the inner rinds of citrus fruit inactivated the K-ras mutated gene in pancreatic cancer.

Curcumin: the main active medicinal ingredient found in the spice, Turmeric, used in India and other countries.

In India, doctors have been using curcumin to both prevent and treat cancer. In the lab studies published, it has been found that curcumin does suppress the growth of cancer cells in general and pancreatic cancer cells in specific. These studies show that curcumin inhibits the growth of NF-kB, an inflammatory protein. This helps control Insulin resistance, a key factor in the development of pancreatic cancer.

In one human study, the use of curcumin was as effective as the chemotherapy drug, gemcitabine. Gemcitabine and Erlotinib are effective is less than 10 per cent of patients. The Curcumin showed a regression in the size of the tumor and other blood test markers including cytokine. This is a marker in immune function.

Curcumin is hard to absorb. There are differences in the Curcumin supplements in their absorption rate. The addition of black pepper greatly increases its absorption. Black pepper greatly increases its absorption.

Selenium Deficiency: When this trace mineral is deficient, your risk for the development of pancreatic cancer increases. This increased risk factor is especially important for men. More men develop pancreatic cancer than women.

Green Tea: One of active compounds in green tea is EGCG. EGCG has been studied for its ability to both prevent and treat many kinds of cancers. It has been show that EGCG can reduce their multiplication. It has also been shown to resist the spread of the mutated pancreatic cells.

Nutrient Mix: In one study a combination of green tea, lysine, proline, arginine, and Vitamin C was applied to pancreatic cancer cells. This nutrient mix did show anti-tumor effects on the growth of the cancer cells. This may mean that when your body is run down and deficient in nutrients needed to maintain a healthy body and immune function, your risk for cancer including pancreatic cancer goes up.

Genistien: a soy isoflavone has anti-tumor activity when combined with the chemotherapy drug, Gemcitabine. It also reduced the NF-kB inflammatory protein involved with faulty insulin resistance.

Pancreatic cancer patients need a diet with higher amounts of protein to maintain body weight and muscle mass. The protein requirements are from 60 to 80 grams daily. The addition of pancreatic enzymes are needed to help the patient digest their foods and absorb the nutrients from those foods.

References:

http://www.endfatigue.com/health_articles_c/Cancer-curcumin_slows_advanced_pancreatic_cancer.html

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=pancreatic+cancer+and+tumeric&fr=ush-health&ygmasrchbtn=Web+Search

http://csn.cancer.org/node/191766

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20428806

http://www.mskcc.org/mskcc/html/11790.cfm?Disclaimer_Redirect=%2Fmskcc%2Fhtml%2F69401.cfm

"Phase II Trial of Curcumin in Patients with Advanced Pancreatic Cancer," Dhillon N, Aggarwal BB, et al, Clin Cancer Res , 2008; 14(14): 4491-4499