Lycopene in tomatoes fights prostate, lung, and stomach cancer

Tomatoes can do more than liven up a salad or sandwich--they are strong antioxidants.

Good news for African American men at risk of prostate cancer (a cancer for which asbestos exposure is a risk factor): a tomato a day may keep the tumors away.


Cancer Prevention Research published a study ("Antioxidant Effects of Lycopene in African American Men with Prostate Cancer or Benign Prostate Hyperplasia: A Randomized, Controlled Trial") led by Richard van Breemen of the University of Chicago. The research team found that lycopene, the pigment that gives tomatoes their red hue, could help prevent prostate cancer in African American men.

Lycopene is a known antioxidant. Other studies have shown that diets rich in tomatoes (and other sources of lycopene) may lower the risk of certain cancers, especially cancers of the prostate, lung and stomach. 

"We're not setting out to treat cancer, but to prevent it, and we're hoping to do so with lycopene."

--Richard van Breemen

Lycopene gives tomatoes and other fruits/ vegetables their distinctive red color.

According to van Breemen, this study was the first of its kind to focus exclusively on African American men, who are at a higher risk than other American men for prostate cancer. One hundred and five African American men, ranging from the age of 50 to 83, all of whom had abnormalities of the prostate, were recruited from two Chicago veterans' hospitals for the study.

According to the University of Chicago, each day, half of the participants "received two gel capsules containing 30 milligrams of lycopene, while the other half received placebo capsules that contained only soybean oil." The lycopene approximated the amount a person would digest daily by eating foods that use tomato sauce, such as pasta with sauce and pizza, van Breemen said. 

The lycopene in the pills was the amount in pizza or pasta with tomato sauce.

The researchers wanted to see if lycopene would rise in the blood and prostate tissue, and if raised lycopene blood levels could lower markers of oxidative stress. Oxidative stress injures the body's cells, while antioxidants help cells heal from the damage. It is a factor in cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and in the natural aging process.

Compared to the placebo group, the men who took the lycopene showed a significant increase of the antioxidant in their blood, van Breemen said. Though the men in the study were all over the age of fifty, it is never too late to start using preventative and natural medicine. 

Preventative medicine is incredibly important. For any male readers out there, take the doctor's advice and have a bowl of gazpacho, some bruschetta, spaghetti with red sauce, or even a slice of pizza (blot the grease, please). It just may save you trouble up the road.

Soy increases radiation therapy's ability to kill cancer cells

According to a Wayne State University study in this month's issue of the Journal of Thoracic Oncology, a naturally occurring component in soybeans improves the effectiveness in radiation therapy.

Thoracic oncology is the study of cancers that occur in the chest cavity, so this would include lung cancer, esophageal cancer, and pleural mesothelioma (cancer of the lining of the lung).

The component researchers have been studying are soy isoflavones. According to the recent study, soy isoflavones stop cancer cells' DNA from repairing themselves, and the soy isoflavones can accomplish this while protecting normal tissue in the same area.

In a news release from Wayne State University, Dr. Gilda Hillman says:

"To improve radiotherapy for lung cancer, we are studying the potential of natural non-toxic components of soybeans, called soy isoflavones, to augment the effect of radiation against the tumor cells and at the same time protect normal lung cells against radiation injury." 

Dr. Hillman, an associate professor in the Department of Radiation Oncology at Wayne State University's School of Medicine and the Karmanos Cancer Institute, led the team of researchers in the soy-radiation study. Dr Hillman explained:

"These natural soy isoflavones can sensitize cancer cells to the effects of radiotherapy by inhibiting the survival mechanisms that cancer cells activate to protect themselves. At the same time, soy isoflavones can also act as antioxidants, which protect normal tissues against unintended damage from the radiotherapy."

Dr. Hillman and the rest of the team found that non-small cell lung cancer cells that were treated with soy isoflavones before radiation showed more DNA damage and less repair activity than cells that received only radiation. Damaging cancer cells' ability to repair themselves is what many chemotherapy drugs aim to do.

The Wayne State researchers used a formulation consisting of the three main isoflavones found in soybeans, including genistein, daidzein and glycitein. (pictured below)

Previous research demonstrated that pure genistein showed antitumor activity in human non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines. Hillman's study showed that the mixture of soy isoflavones had an even greater antitumor effect than pure genistein.  The university's news release noted that 

the soy mixture also is consistent with the soy isoflavone pills used in clinical studies, which have proven to be safe.

If you are currently undergoing radiation therapy for pleural mesothelioma or any other thoracic cancer, ask your oncologist about soy isoflavones. If you integrate alternative, natural and complementary mesothelioma treatments with your standard treatments, it is important  to keep your doctors informed about every drug you take, including vitamins and supplements.

Welcome to Mesothelioma Alternative Medicine

Welcome to Mesothelioma Alternative Medicine. I made this blog to provide information about alternative medicine used in the treatment of mesothelioma, but also to

• share news stories about developments in alternative (holistic, herbal, experimental, nontraditional, etc.) medicine, and to 

• provide a forum for discussion and the sharing of first-hand or second-hand experiences with mesothelioma alternative medicine. 

This blog is devoted to alternative treatment options for mesothelioma first and foremost, but related topics--like alternative medicine for related cancers, such as lung cancer, or asbestosis, a disease that often precedes or accompanies mesothelioma--are a priority, too.

Stories of experience with mesothelioma alternative medicine are welcome. Studies and research are conducted on mesothelioma patients, not merely on tumors. The tumors exist inside a person, and affect the complicated systems of the human body. Alternative medicine emphasizes the person as a whole, and takes a person's experience of cancer treatment into account. 

Share your story, or the story of a friend who has gone through alternative mesothelioma treatments. Your opinion of a new (or old) treatment method is valid, valuable, and helpful to others. I will update regularly, so if you have a related topic you'd like to see covered, let me know!