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Health News Archive 536 - Colon Cancer
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Probiotics Plus FOS Effective at Reducing Colon Cancer Markers

A synbiotic supplement comprising the prebiotics inulin and oligofructose, and a mixture of two probiotics, successfully reduced several markers of colon cancer, say results of a major Europe-wide study.

Colon cancer is an area that has a growing but already significant number of animal studies linking prebiotic and/or probiotic intake to a risk reduction. The results of the EU-sponsored SynCan project show that the combination of pre- and probiotics could favorably shift the populations of fecal bacteria, with larger populations of protective bacteria and reduced numbers of cancer-promoting bacteria.

“The synbiotic intervention resulted in significant alterations in the composition of the colonic bacterial ecosystem, which presumably have consequences for the metabolic activity of this organ,” wrote the researchers in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Eighty people (43 with colonic polyps, 37 with colon cancer) were recruited for the double-blind placebo-controlled design for 12 weeks, and randomly assigned to receive either placebo or the synbiotic supplement comprising Orafti's Synergy1 (12 grams per day) and a probiotic (Lactobacillus GG and Bifidobacteria12).

The researchers report that the beneficial bacterial strains Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium increased in both polypectomised (18 and 17 per cent, respectively) and cancer patients (8 and 12 per cent, respectively), as would be expected on ingestion of the probiotics.

Populations of Clostridium perfringens, a strain reported to convert dietary substances to carcinogenic compounds, decreased significantly in the polyp patients by 32 per cent. A 22 per cent reduction was recorded in the colon cancer patients. Markers of DNA damage were also reduced in the synbiotic-supplemented group, compared to placebo, particularly for the polyp patients, said the researchers.

“This result provides indirect evidence that genotoxin exposure in the colon decreased at the end of the intervention period,” said the researchers. The researchers noted that no effect on apoptosis (programmed cell death), colonic inflammation, or tumor cell spread was observed in either group.

“Our results offer valuable corroboration of the wealth of animal data in the field and suggest that synbiotics of the type studied in the present study may represent a feasible means of chemoprevention of colon cancer in humans,” wrote lead author Joseph Rafter from the Karolinska Institute.

The SynCan project was supported by the European Commission and comprised nine research institutes and with Belgium's Orafti as an industrial partner. The project consisted of a long-term rat study and a human dietary intervention to test the effects of the synbiotic supplement on colon cancer risk.

Eighty per cent of colorectal cancers may be preventable by dietary changes.  It is also one of the most curable cancers if diagnosis is made early.

Source: J. Rafter, M. Bennett, G. Caderni, Y. Clune, R. Hughes, P.C. Karlsson, A. Klinder, M. O'Riordan, G.C. O'Sullivan, B. Pool-Zobel, G. Rechkemmer, M. Roller, I. Rowland, M. Salvadori, H. Thijs, J. Van Loo, B. Watzl, J.K. Collins. Dietary synbiotics reduce cancer risk factors in polypectomized and colon cancer patients American Journal of Clinical Nutrition; Volume 85, Pages 488-496.

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