Oral Cancer May be Treated with Proanthocyanidins from Medicinal Plants

Wednesday, March 12, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: oral cancer, berries, health news

(NewsTarget) Proanthocyanidins from grapeseed extract may hamper the growth of oral cancer cells, according to a recent study published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

Proanthocyanidins are chemicals in the flavonoid family, naturally occurring in the seeds and skins of grapes (including red wine), pine bark, green and black tea, and berries including bilberries, cranberries, chokeberries and black currant berries. They have been shown to act as antioxidants and protect against DNA damage from tobacco, as well as to be selectively toxic to various forms of cancer cells, including breast, gastric, lung and prostate cancers. They have also been shown to retard the growth of breast, colon, oral and prostate cancers.

Researchers tested proanthocyanidins derived from grapeseed extract on cell lines of both oral and cervical cancer in the laboratory. They found that the chemical significantly slowed the growth of both cervical and oral cancers, but that the effect was greater on oral cancers. The effect was dose-dependent, meaning that larger doses of the extract led to slower cancer growth.

Because a particular strain of human papillomavirus, HPV 16, has previously been shown to drive the proliferation of oral cancer cells, the researchers also tested the extract against such accelerated cell lines. The grapeseed extract proanthocyanidins were found to significantly reduce the growth of the HPV-stimulated oral cancer cells.

In addition, the researchers reported preliminary evidence that the extract may encourage cell death among both cervical and oral cancers.

The researchers hailed their work as an important step in developing alternative cancer treatments. "Standard chemotherapies and radiation treatment, frequently used to treat oral cancer patients, often have harsh and severe side effects that include tissue damage and malfunction," the researchers wrote. "The discovery and validation of novel treatments and prevention strategies, lacking these harmful side effects, is one of our main short-term goals."

"This research shows that the natural medicines in berries works as an effective replacement for chemotherapy in many cancers," added consumer health advocate Mike Adams, author of the book The 7 Laws of Nutrition. "People who eat fresh, raw berries on a daily basis are greatly reducing their risk of ever being diagnosed with breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer and other forms of cancer."

"But what's really astonishing today," Adams added, "is that oncologists remain nutritionally illiterate and have zero knowledge about anti-cancer foods and herbs. Thus, millions of people are harmed each year with chemotherapy chemicals that are, in reality, long outdated and largely ineffective. The entire conventional cancer industry is a grand marketing scam that only seeks to profit from disease rather than actually curing it."