Using Saffron for Prostate Cancer

Saffron’s been used in traditional medicine for more than 3,000 years, as everything from an aphrodisiac to an antidote to poison. Could it hold the key to fighting the second-leading cause of cancer death in America?

An Italian study suggests compounds found in the golden-orange spice may help give hope to those with prostate cancer.

The study focused on crocins, a carotenoid found in saffron, Crocus sativus L., and a compound our gastrointestinal tract produces after we eat saffron, called crocetin esters. Italian researchers found both had cancer-fighting powers in cancer cell cultures and in mice with prostate cancer.

“Saffron and its ingredients could be considered as a promising candidate for clinical anticancer trials in aggressive prostate cancer with a high risk of metastases,” wrote the study’s authors in the journal BioMed Research International. The research was noted on foodconsumer.org.

This study comes after research last year pointed to the possibilities of using vitamin A to prevent and treat the diseases. That research, conducted in the U.K., suggested vitamin A switches on genes that halt the spread of cancer cells and could be used to enhance clinical treatments of prostate cancer. The research was published in Oncogenesis.

Another study published last year in Cancer Prevention Research suggested that tomatoes and soy may be a powerful(see below), prostate cancer-fighting combo when consumed together. Research from the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences found that mice fed both foods had significantly less instances of prostate cancer, even though the critters used in the study were genetically engineered to easily develop the disease.

Tomatoes and Soy

Tomatoes and soy may be a powerful, cancer-fighting combo when consumed together. New research from the University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences found that mice fed both foods had significantly less instances of prostate cancer, even though the critters used in the study were genetically engineered to easily develop the disease. The study was published online in Cancer Prevention Research.

“In our study, we used mice that were genetically engineered to develop an aggressive form of prostate cancer,” said University of Illinois food science and nutrition professor John Erdman in a release. “Even so, half the animals that had consumed tomato and soy had no cancerous lesions in the prostate at study’s end. All mice in the control group—no soy, no tomato—developed the disease.”

In a framework designed to model and early and lifelong exposure to the bioactive components in both foods, mice were fed special diets beginning when they were four weeks old, through their 18th week of life. Researchers fed the rodents one of four diets: 10 percent whole tomato powder, two percent soy germ, tomato powder and soy germ or a diet with no tomato or soy.

“Eating tomato, soy, and the combination all significantly reduced prostate cancer incidence,” said Erdman. “But the combination gave us the best results. Only 45 percent of mice fed both foods developed the disease compared to 61 percent in the tomato group, and 66 percent in the soy group.”

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