Polyphenyls in British Rhubarb have Anticancer Effect
Researchers in Great Britain discovered that British garden rhubarb that has been baked for 20 minutes contains increased levels of polyphenyls, adding to the long list of healthy foods that contain polyphenyls.
Polyphenyls are compounds found in green tea, black tea, raspberries, strawberries, brussel sprouts, and in many other fruits and vegetables. In the lab, these compounds have been show to kill cancer cells while sparing the healthy ones, or prevent them from growing. They are a major class of compounds known as phytonutrients, compounds that are found in plants (“phyto” is Greek for “plant”)
Oriental medicinal rhubarb, a plant that has been an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, was the initial focus of investigation. But this most recent study looked at the levels of polyphenyls specifically in the British rhubarb that is found in South Yorkshire, which had not been done previously.
For scientists, these studies provide an opportunity to find new drugs that may be used in the fight against cancer. But more often than not, drugs that kill cancer cells in the laboratory have no effect on fighting cancer when given to patients. Studying one type of cell in the laboratory does provide insight into how a drug may work, it does not tell scientists how a drug is going to work in the body, which contains many types of cells that interact with each other. But even if a compound found in food is not effective in treating cancer, scientists may be able to develop more potent drugs in the lab based on the chemical properties of the compound they initially studied.
For the general population, these kinds of stories generate a lot of excitement. The desire to be able to take a magic pill or eat something that will keep you healthy is strong, especially when dealing with cancer. But there are some things to keep in mind when one hears about these kinds of studies. The way the food is prepared can alter the level of polyphenyls that are present in the food. In this case, baking the British garden rhubarb for 20 minutes increased the level of polyphenyls. But methods of cooking such as boiling and steaming often leads to a decrease in the amount of polyphenyls in a food, so less ends up being ingested. Also when we ingest food, we break a lot of compounds down in our gut, making them less effective.
That is why scientists isolate these compounds from the food. And those that do make it to human clinical trials are usually given to patients intravenously (IV), so they reach the cancer cells through the blood without having to travel through the gut.
Scientists who conducted this study are going to isolate the polyphenyls from the rhubarb and test them on cancer cells in the lab. Their first experiments will likely be determining the effects of polyphenyls from British garden rhubarb on leukemia cells. [Yahoo! Health Day News]
