Dicks Health Care

Archive for the ‘brocoli’ Category

The chemical compounds that are in the broccoli and cabbage, allow fight against cancer by reducing the activity of an enzyme associated with the rapid advancement of breast cancer, according to the University of California, Berkeley, the study that appears on the issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The compound, indole-3-carbinol, is undergoing clinical trials in humans, since it was found the ability to stop the growth of breast cancer and prostate cells of animals.

The new findings are the first to explain how indole-3-carbinol (I3C) stops the cell growth and, therefore, provide the basis for the development of improved versions of the chemical that would be more effective, as a drug and could work against a wider range of tumors.

“I believe that one of the real uses of this compound and its derivatives combines with other types of therapies, such as the tamoxifen for breast cancer and anti-androgen for prostate cancer,” said the co-author Gary Firestone, UC Berkeley professor of molecular and cellular biology.

“Human beings have co-evolved with the vegetables crucifers as the broccoli and Brussels sprouts, so this natural source has far fewer side effects”. Read the rest of this entry »

Firestone with his colleagues showed that I-3C inhibits the enzyme elastase, which has high levels in cells of breast cancer and announces a poor prognosis: as a reduction of the response to chemotherapy, the reduction in response to the treatment endocrine and the reduction of the survival rates.

The “Elastase” is an enzyme that shortens a cellular process chemical, the ciclina E, which acacelerates the cell cycle, making the cancer cells proliferate more rapidly, Firestone showed that the I3C prevents the reduction of the elastase of ciclina E, which stops the development of cells of breast cancer.

For more than 15 years, Firestone, Bjeldanes and his colleagues have studied the fight against cancer and the benefits of the vegetables such as the family of cabbage grouped in the gender of the Brassicas and because of the cross that shows the willingness of their flowers, often referred to the same as crucifers.

Despite the fact that the fight against cancer and profits have been recognized from the 1970S, the mechanism is only now possible, since it was discovered in part thanks to the work of Firestone, Bjeldanes and colleagues at UC Berkeley.

“We have connected the dots in a very important” by which indole-3-carbinol works, said Firestone. Read the rest of this entry »