Plant active ingredients against breast cancer

Prevention and treatment of breast cancer with plant hormones

13/09/2011

So-called plant hormones (phytohormones) can be used to treat breast cancer patients. Researchers at the German Cancer Research Center in Heidelberg have found that herbal hormone-like substances, the mortality risk and the risk of secondary tumors and metastases in women who develop breast cancer (breast cancer) after menopause are on the decline.

The plant hormones, for example, in flaxseed, so-called lignans, reduce the risk of dying of breast cancer and the probability of metastasis and secondary tumors in breast cancer patients after menopause by up to 40 percent, according to the DKFZ scientists. For the first time, the researchers were able to show that the phytoestrogens contained in various cereals and vegetables have a clear effect on the treatment of breast cancer. From previous studies it was already known that a diet rich in phytoestrogens in women is used to prevent postmenopausal breast cancer.

Positive effect of plant hormones against breast cancer
The researchers around Dr. Jenny Chang-Claude from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) took regular blood samples from 1,140 breast cancer patients between 2002 and 2005 to check their intake of phytoestrogens. The blood counts obtained were then compared to the disease over a six-year observation period. The DKFZ researchers found that lignans (special phytoestrogens) reduce the mortality risk and the formation of metastases or secondary tumors by up to 40 percent. This is the first clear evidence that the plant hormones in the treatment of breast cancer have a very positive effect, report. Jenny Chang-Claude and colleagues. Previous studies could not provide any clear results, since the intake of phytoestrogens was not controlled on the basis of blood values, but based solely on the information provided by the patients. However, despite the same amount of intake significant differences in blood levels may occur, as the plant hormones are processed extremely differently depending on the metabolism of women, explained the DKFZ experts. The scientists therefore controlled the blood levels of the patients to determine what amounts of plant hormones in the digestive tract were actually processed into so-called enterolactone and absorbed by the intestinal mucosa.

Natural agents to reduce breast cancer risk
The current results of the DKFZ scientists support the statements of previous studies, according to which the plant hormone-like substances cause a reduction in breast cancer risk. The assumption that the natural active ingredients cause a reduction in breast cancer risk, says the scientists also said that Asian women are generally less likely to develop breast cancer. This is presumably due to the soy-rich Asian diet, as it contains so-called isoflavones, which also belong to the plant hormones from the group of phytoestrogens, explained the DKFZ experts. The herbal active ingredients may thus be a good option in the future, to positively influence the hormone balance and prevent breast cancer after menopause. It may also be possible to derive an alternative to the so-called hormone replacement therapies based on the herbal substances. These were often used in the past for the treatment of typical menopausal symptoms, but turned out in studies of the German Cancer Research Center as a special risk factor for the development of breast cancer out.

Ten percent of women get breast cancer
As the DKFZ expert Karen Steindorf stated in a previous publication, hormone replacement therapies and physical inactivity are the most common causes of breast cancer and when „induce behavioral changes in these two areas“ could, could „Almost 30 percent of all cases of breast cancer are prevented after menopause“. In Germany, according to the DKFZ, about one in ten women suffer from breast cancer during their lifetime, with breast cancer accounting for 28 percent of all new cancers a year, the most common cancer in women. In total, more than 57,000 people worldwide develop breast cancer every year in Germany and then have to undergo surgery, cytostatic, hormonal and / or radiotherapy. According to the German Cancer Research Center, the death rate for breast cancer is about thirty percent. Breast cancer is the leading cause of death in women between the ages of 30 and 60 in industrialized nations. In this case, the herbal active ingredients could possibly cause a significant reduction in deaths in the future, but the effect of lignans and other phytoestrogens must first be further investigated in further studies, the DKFZ scientists said. (Fp)

Also read:
New drug for breast cancer screening
Hormones can cause breast cancer
Breast cancer in men
Study: Bitter melon against breast cancer?
Breast cancer: help by beta-blockers?

Image: Dieter Schütz