Breast Cancer Preventative: Bitter Melon
Reported February 24, 2010
(Ivanhoe Newswire) — The common dietary supplement bitter melon may be a powerful weapon in the fight against breast cancer.
In vitro research now shows extract of bitter melon — commonly used in folk medicine as a remedy for diabetes — may eventually serve as a chemopreventive against breast cancer.
“Our findings suggest that bitter melon extract modulates several signal transduction pathways, which induces breast cancer cell death,” lead researcher Ratna B. Ray, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Pathology at Saint Louis University in St. Louis, Mo., was quoted as saying. “This extract can be utilized as a dietary supplement for the prevention of breast cancer.”
Dr. Ray and colleagues found bitter melon extract significantly decreased the growth and division of breast cancer cells and induced death of the cancer cells. They studied the effects of the extract in primary human mammary epithelial cells.
Researchers caution that additional studies are needed to establish this treatment in animals before it is administered in humans.
Source: Cancer Research, February 23, 2010