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Fruit Nutrient May Fight Resistant Prostate

Men with prostate cancer who have not responded to conventional treatments may benefit from supplements containing a modified form of a fruit ingredient, preliminary research suggests.

After 13 men with prostate cancer that did not respond to conventional treatment tried supplements containing modified fruit pectin (MCP) for 12 months, 7 of the 10 men who completed the study showed signs that their tumors were becoming less aggressive.

The study was sponsored by EcoNugenics, the company that sells the MCP supplements used in the current research.

All of the men underwent previous treatment for their tumors, including surgery and radiation, after which they had all experienced an increase in prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood, a sign their cancer was continuing to grow.

Three of the patients did not complete the full course of treatment with MCP due to mild abdominal cramps or diarrhea, which resolved after they stopped the treatment.

In an interview, study author Brad Guess said that the results are too preliminary to warrant recommending MCP to all men with prostate cancer. However, the findings show that, for men with recurrent cancer who can handle the side effects, MCP may help, he noted.

"It may have some benefit as a relatively non-toxic agent in a select group of guys with a rising PSA," Guess, a physician’s assistant at Prostate Oncology Specialist in California.

He added that pectin naturally occurs in the peel of citrus fruit, and is generally not absorbed by the bloodstream. So eating large quantities of fruit likely won’t bring about the same benefit as taking a supplement, which contains pectin that is modified so that it is absorbed in the bloodstream, he said.

During the study, reported in the journal Prostate Cancer and Prostatic Diseases, Guess and his team asked 13 men with prostate cancer to take six capsules of MCP three times per day for one year, for a total daily dose of 14.4 grams.

Among the 10 patients who completed the study, seven experienced a slower rise in blood levels of PSA, a sign that their tumors were becoming less aggressive.

In an interview, study co-author Dr. Stephen Strum, an oncologist specializing in prostate cancer in Oregon, explained that previous experiments have shown that MCP may block an important substance that enables cancer to grow and spread.

According to Strum, our immune system is typically strong enough to fight off individual cancer cells. To outwit our natural defenses, he said, cancer cells exhibit a protein on their surfaces that enables them to combine together, forming a clump large enough to become a threat to health.

"The cohesiveness of the enemy cells, the tumor cells, is an important factor for the cancer to grow and spread," Strum explained.

Recently, investigators discovered that MCP blocks this surface protein, known as galectin-3, which may explain why it helps men with prostate cancer, Strum noted.

Guess added that MCP may also work in people with other types of cancer, as well.