Men with prostate cancer may benefit from supplements containing a modified form of a fruit ingredient – MCP, preliminary research suggests.
After 13 men with prostate cancer that did not respond to conventional treatment tried supplements containing modified fruit pectin (MCP) for 12 months, 7 of the 10 men who completed the study showed signs that their tumors were becoming less aggressive.
The study was sponsored by EcoNugenics, the company that sells the MCP supplements used in the current research.
All of the men underwent previous treatment for their tumors, including surgery and radiation, after which they had all experienced an increase in prostate specific antigen (PSA) in their blood, a sign their cancer was continuing to grow.
Pectin naturally occurs in the peel of citrus fruit, and is generally not absorbed by the bloodstream. So eating large quantities of fruit likely won’t bring about the same benefit as taking a supplement, which contains pectin that is modified so that it is absorbed in the bloodstream.
According to Strum, our immune system is typically strong enough to fight off individual cancer cells. To outwit our natural defenses, he said, cancer cells exhibit a protein on their surfaces that enables them to combine together, forming a clump large enough to become a threat to health.
“The cohesiveness of the enemy cells, the tumor cells, is an important factor for the cancer to grow and spread,” Strum explained.
Recently, investigators discovered that MCP blocks this surface protein, known as galectin-3, which may explain why it helps men with prostate cancer, Strum noted.