News
Coverage of Glutathione, Whey Protein in Cancer
Fighting
Cancer With Whey
From the article by Will Brink, in LE Magazine,
November 1997
Whey
and Cancer
Additional studies have been done on animals regarding cancer-causing
chemicals to see what effects whey protein concentrate would have
on cancer prevention or treatment. .. the rats fed whey protein
concentrate showed fewer tumors and a reduced pooled area of tumors
(tumor mass index).
The
researchers found whey protein
offered "considerable protection to the host" over that of other
proteins, including soy. (McIntosh G.H., et al., Journal of Nutrition,
1995)
Even
more exciting, in vivo research on cancer and whey showed whey
protein concentrate inhibited the growth of breast cancer cells
at low concentrations (Baruchel S. and Vaiu G., Anti Cancer Research,
1996).
Finally,
and most importantly, a fairly recent clinical study with cancer
patients showed a regression in some patient's tumors when fed
whey protein concentrate at 30 grams per day. (Kennedy R.S., Konok
G.P., Bounous G., Baruchel S., Lee T.D., Anti Cancer Research,
1995)
Whey
and Glutathione
This new research using whey protein concentrate led researchers
to an amazing discovery regarding the relationship between cancerous
cells, glutathione (GSH) and whey protein concentrate....
In
this new research it was found that cancer cells subjected to
whey proteins were depleted of their glutathione,
and their growth was inhibited, while normal cells had an increase
in GSH and increased cellular growth.
These
effects were not seen with other proteins. ........The exact mechanism
by which whey protein achieves this is not fully understood, but
it appears that it interferes with the normal feedback mechanism
and regulation of glutathione in cancer cells.
It
is known that glutathione production is negatively inhibited by
its own synthesis. Being that baseline glutathione levels in cancer
cells are higher than that of normal cells, it is probably easier
to reach the level of negative-feedback inhibition in the cancer
cells' glutathione levels than in the normal cells' glutathione
levels.
See
also:
Protocols:
BREAST CANCER
LE Magazine January 1999
The
Benefits of Whey
Whey protein as cancer treatment adjuvant, antibiotic, and
anti-aging agent.
Whey
Protein Power
Surprising success in the prevention and treatment of cancer
is making whey protein a popular supplement.
Eat
your whey: It may protect against prostate cancer
(28 May, 2003)
New
research suggests that whey, a liquid byproduct from cheese production,
may play a role in helping prevent prostate cancer. When Ohio
State University food scientists treated human prostate cells
in the lab with whey protein, cellular levels of the antioxidant
glutathione increased.
Antioxidants
such as glutathione have been shown to control cancer-causing
free radicals. Cancer researchers suspect that the accumulation
of free radicals plays a role in the development of prostate cancer.
In
the current study, the Ohio State scientists found that treating
prostate cells with whey protein elevated glutathione levels in
the cells by up to 64 percent. The study appears in a recent
issue of the journal Toxicology in Vitro.
"...whey
proteins are rich in cysteine, an amino acid that increases glutathione
in the prostate," Kent said. "...cysteine is the amino acid
that helps create healthy glutathione levels in the prostate,
and glutathione helps keep free radicals under control."
Protein
Building Block May Prevent Breast Cancer
July
14, 2003 WASHINGTON, DC (Reuters Health) - High blood levels
of cysteine, a protein building block, may protect against breast
cancer, new research suggests.
Cysteine
is classified as a nonessential amino acid, meaning that it doesn't
need to be included in a person's diet, their own body can make
it. Still, the new findings suggest that getting a little extra
in the diet might be a good thing.
In
the new study, women with the highest cysteine levels were 56%
less likely to develop breast cancer than those with the lowest
levels, study author Dr. Shumin M. Zhang, from Harvard Medical
School in Boston, told Reuters Health.
Regardless
of other known risk factors, as cysteine levels rose, breast cancer
risk fell, Zhang found. However, the beneficial effects of a high
cysteine level appeared to be strongest in lean women.
See
also: AACR:
High Cysteine Levels Linked to Lower Rates of Breast Cancer
Cancer
Chemotherapy
LEF Disease Therapies Protocol
Whey
proteins used in combination with glutathione appear to reduce
the concentrations of glutathione in cancer cells, thereby making
them more vulnerable to chemotherapy while maintaining or even
increasing glutathione
levels in normal healthy cells.
Glutathione
production in cancer and healthy cells is negatively inhibited
by its own synthesis. Since glutathione levels are higher in cancer
cells it is believed that cancer cells would reach a level of
negative-feedback inhibition for glutathione production more easily
than normal cells.
Chemotherapy
patients should consider taking 30 to 60 grams per day of whey
protein concentrate 10 days before initiation of chemotherapy,
during the chemotherapy, and at least 10 days after the chemotherapy
session is completed.
Note:
If blood testing shows that chemotherapy has suppressed the immune
system, patients should insist that their oncologists use the
appropriate immune restoration drug(s) as outlined in the Cancer
(Adjuvant) Treatment Protocol.
USDA
Funded Research Finds That Soy, Whey Proteins May Help Prevent
Breast Cancer
Release No. 0021.00 WASHINGTON,
Jan. 20, 2000
Researchers at the Arkansas Children's Nutrition Center have found
that whey and soy protein may help prevent breast cancer.
This
research, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is featured
in this month's "Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention,"
an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
"This significant new research, although preliminary, suggests
that adding whey or soy protein to the diet may help protect women
and children from developing breast cancer," said Agriculture
Secretary Dan Glickman.
In laboratory studies, researchers compared the protective effects
of soy protein and whey protein against chemically induced tumors
in the milk producing glands of rats.
They
found that approximately 50 percent fewer rats had mammary
tumors when fed a diet containing a processed whey protein
as compared with rats eating a standard diet.
Data indicates that feeding rats diets made with whey protein
can prevent mammary tumor formation in the major animal model
of human breast cancer and illustrate the importance of dietary
factors in disease prevention," said Badger, who has filed for
a patent on the whey compound.
Wheying
in on the Battle against Cancer
From "Finding the Whey" by Paula Frank
A study conducted in Taiwan suggests that whey protein isolate
can stimulate production of glutathione, an antioxidant, in normal
cells, thereby protecting them from toxicity, while at the same
time reducing the glutathione level in cancer cells.
Cancer
cells reportedly produce high levels of glutathione, which protects
them from toxic substances and promotes resistance to anticancer
drugs.
The
laboratory study measured the growth of human liver cancer cells
over a four day period in four different media:
1) normal medium
2) A patent-protected
whey protein isolate
3) Baicalein (a potential anti-cancer drug)
4) Whey protein isolate and baicalein combined.
According
to researchers, treatment with baicalein significantly reduced
the viability of cancer cells.The combination of whey protein
isolate and baicalein was even more effective.
Thirteen
times more cancer cells underwent apoptosis (cell death)in the
group treated with baicelein alone versus the control group, whereas
45 times more cancer cells underwent apoptosis in the combination
group of baicalein and Immunocal in comparison to the control.
The
best possible scenario for a cancer-treatment patient is to reduce
the level of glutathione in cancer cells, while increasing or
at least maintaining levels in normal, healthy cells. Initial
research results indicates that whey protein does just that.
Source: Tail WY et al.
Nutr and Cancer, 38(2): 200-208, 2001 summary by Judith Jarvis,MS,
RD National Dairy Council, Rosemont, Ill.
Improved
Cancer Treatment May Be Just a Glass of Milk A "Whey"
Press Release from the National Dairy Council
A
recent study found that whey proteins – which are pure, high-quality
proteins found in cow’s milk – may enhance the effectiveness of
the potential anticancer drug, baicalein.
The
researchers conducted the study using a whey protein isolate and
found that nearly 45 times more human liver cancer cells died
when they were treated with both the whey protein and baicalein
than the control group.
In
addition, whey protein isolate
enhanced the cancer killing effect of the anti-cancer drug by
13 times. The researchers conclude that whey proteins may
provide some benefit in cancer treatment.
Reference:
Enhancing Effect of Patented Whey Protein Isolate on Cytotoxicity
of an Anticancer Drug.
Tsai, W.Y. et al. [Nutrition and Cancer. 2000; 38(2): 200-208.]
Glutathione:
New Supplement on the Block
(Living Better Feature - WebMD)
(Extracts from the article by Alison Palkhivala)
Who
wouldn't like to get their hands on a naturally occurring substance
that acts as an antioxidant, an immune system booster, and a detoxifier?
..... The strong antioxidant
effect of glutathione helps keep cells running smoothly.
"If you look in a hospital situation at people who have cancer,
AIDS, or other very serious disease, almost invariably they are
depleted in glutathione...
Glutathione
is probably not well absorbed into the body when taken by mouth......A
more practical solution is to take the precursors -- that is,
the molecules the body needs to make
glutathione -- rather than glutathione itself......
Bounous
has developed a glutathione-enhancing product, which is made up
of glutathione precursors, mainly the amino acid cysteine.
The
best studies have been conducted in cancer. One study involved
women with ovarian cancer who were being treated with chemotherapy.
Some
of the women were also treated with intravenous glutathione.Those
given the glutathione not only had fewer side effects from the
chemotherapy but also had better overall survival rates.......
Bounous
says his research has demonstrated that taking the patented
bonded cysteine supplement actually lowers glutathione in
cancer cells while increasing it in normal cells. As a result,
the cancer cells are more vulnerable to chemotherapy, and the
normal cells are protected.
Myriam
Abalain of Montreal, Canada, is one of the many people who have
taken Bounous' bonded cysteine supplement to combat cancer........a
hysterectomy was her only option, but she hesitated to have such
major, life-altering surgery.......For more than two years, her
condition remained stable. Then a friend suggested she try the
bonded
cysteine supplement.
After
eight months of taking the supplement, her physician could no
longer detect any precancerous cells......Even Bounous acknowledges
there's no real proof his product cured her cancer, but he's working
on conducting good clinical research, comparing individuals with
cancer taking glutathione to those who are not.
They
all acknowledge that people with severe diseases known to be associated
with low glutathione levels, such as AIDS, may well benefit from
the bonded
cysteine supplement.
For
her part, Myriam Abalain is still taking the bonded
cysteine supplement and feeling fine. "I'm doing pretty good
now," she says. "I'm in better shape than ever!
Scientists
find key to 'wasting syndrome' seen in cancer, AIDS
From the Department of Veterans Affairs website
Published 9 a.m. (ET) Monday, Dec. 9, 2001
Department
of Veterans Affairs researchers and colleagues have discovered
a biochemical mechanism that may explain wasting syndrome, a condition
that causes severe weight loss and weakness in patients with chronic
inflammatory diseases and often hastens their death.
Scientists
in San Diego pinpointed the biological chain of events that caused
wasting in mice, then identified the same process in liver tissue
from cancer patients.
Dr. Chojkier and lead author Martina Buck, Ph.D., of VA, UCSD
and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, described the steps
by which tumor necrosis factor (TNF) alpha, an immune-system
protein, prevents the production of albumin.
Low
levels of albumin, a critical protein made in the liver, is a
keynote of wasting.
The
researchers found several ways of stopping the downward spiral
caused by TNF- alpha. One way was to treat TNF-alpha-enhanced
mice with vitamin E and other antioxidants. "If we block oxidative
stress, we normalize everything," explained Dr. Chojkier.
According
to Dr. Chojkier, a gastroenterologist and liver specialist, antioxidants
such as vitamin E might halt wasting in humans if these supplements
were delivered in very high amounts-or even better, if they were
targeted to the liver. "One solution will be to find a liver-specific
antioxidant," he said. "With the technology we have today, this
is very feasible. We believe this will provide an exciting avenue
for intervention."
Note:
Glutathione is a the most important liver-specific
antioxidant and also acts to reconstitute
vitamins C and E after they have been oxidized, and therefore
plays a determinant role in their function.
Milk
Protein Destroys Cancer Cells
12/12 The Daily News
A milk protein — lacto ferracin — can zap deadly cancer cells,
particularly in leukemia tumours, Dalhousie University scientists
have found in a new study. The most encouraging result is that
the protein seems to kill only the cancer cells, not healthy cells.
News
from Sweden:
Human
Breast Milk Kills Cancer Cells!
from the June,1999 issue of Discover Magazine
In
the June, 1999 issue of Discover Magazine, on the front cover;
News from Sweden: Human Breast Milk Kills Cancer Cells! In this
article, Peter Radetsky interviews Dr. Catharina Svanborg who
is a physician and immunologist at Lund University in Sweden.
She
talks about her discovery with a team of researchers that Human
Breast milk in vitro, killed every type of cancer cell they tested
it against. This included lung cancer, throat cancer, kidney
cancer, colon cancer, bladder cancer, lymphoma and leukemia.
The research has been ongoing for seven years.
..they
pinpointed the killer of the cancer cells, which turned out to
be ALPHA- LACTALBUMIN!
Got
cancer killers?
DISCOVER Vol. 20 No. 6 (June 1999)
Breast-feeding protects babies from cancer, but no one knows quite
how. So when biologists in Catharina Svanborg's lab saw mothers'
milk kill cancer cells, they knew they were onto something
big.
When
Catharina Svanborg and her research associates began mixing mothers'
milk and cancer cells together seven years ago, she wasn't looking
for a cure for cancer; she was after a way to fight germs.
Nevertheless,
the physician and immunologist at Lund University in Sweden has
discovered that a previously taken-for-granted component of ordinary
human breast milk compels cancer cells--every type of cancer cell
tested--to die.
More
references:
Nutritional
Supplementation For Cancer, Part 1
Stephen Byrnes, PhD, RNCP
Whey
Protein Shown Effective in Preventing, Treating Breast Cancer
Prepared Foods Online Newsletter - October 8 , 2001
Breast
Cancer: Whey Protein May Be Twice As Effective As Soy As Preventative/Treatment
Women's Health Weekly - October 25-November 1, 2001
Soy,
whey proteins may lower cancer risk
Prevention
of Cancer with Whey Protein
Cancer
Prevention with Whey Protein (Prev 1)
Potential
Anti-cancer activity of Milk and Milk Components
Alpha-Lactalbumin
Breast
milk component kills cancer cells
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