Study: Broccoli Could Prevent Head And Neck Cancers
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A compound in broccoli could help prevent certain head and neck cancers according to researchers at the University of Pittsburgh.
The study and trial done by the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute in partner with UPMC CancerCenter showed that potent doses of broccoli sprout extract active a "detoxification" gene and may prevent cancer recurrence in survivors of head and neck cancer.
The study confirmed preliminary results which were presented at the American Association for Cancer Research's annual meeting.
The study has conducted on both mice and humans and has been posted in the journal Cancer Prevention Research.
In a release researchers say: "With head and neck cancer, we often clear patients of cancer only to see it come back with deadly consequences a few years later," said lead author Julie Bauman, M.D., M.P.H., co-director of the UPMC Head and Neck Cancer Center of Excellence. "Unfortunately, previous efforts to develop a preventative drug to reduce this risk have been inefficient, intolerable in patients and expensive. That led us to 'green chemoprevention'—the cost-effective development of treatments based upon whole plants or their extracts."
Researchers say the results of the mouse, human and lab studies have been so successful that Dr. Bauman has started a larger clinical trial in volunteers previously cured of head and neck cancer.
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You can read more about the cancer studies here.