Learning Center | Cancer

It has been estimated that 30-40 percent of all cancers can be prevented by lifestyle and dietary measures alone (WCRF/AICR 1997). Protective elements in a cancer prevention diet include selenium, folic acid, vitamin B-12, vitamin D, chlorophyll, and antioxidants such as the carotenoids ( -carotene, -carotene, lycopene, lutein, cryptoxanthin) (Steinmetz 1996). One of the most important messages of modern nutrition research is that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables protects against cancer. There is a great interest currently to identify plant products that can be used in cancer chemoprevention that would prevent tumor initiation and promotion. Drug metabolizing, detoxifying, and antioxidant enzymes are important cellular defenses against carcinogenesis.

Based on research findings, it is thought that due to the antioxidant proprieties of Hippophae rhamnoides (sea buckthorn), it may have chemopreventive and antitumorigenic efficacy. Research has also shown that the constituents present in the whole extract manifest radioprotection by several mechanisms, like free-radical scavenging, metal chelation, chromatin compaction and hypoxia induction (Goel 2003; Prem Kumar 2002). It has also been reported to provide protection to whole mice, various tissues, cells and cell organelles against lethal irradiation. The research in this area is limited and most of the research on been animal studies.

Review of Key Studies

Health Benefit	Reference
Chemoprevention	Padmavathi 2005
Breast cancer	Zhang 2005
Protection against radiation	Goel 2005
Non-specific immunity	Geetha 2002
Prevent Nicotine Oxidative Stress	Suleyman 2002
Protection against radiation	Agrawala 2002
Protection against radiation	Goel 2002
Anti-cancer	Xu 1994
Immunological anti-tumor	Yu 1993
Anti-mutagenic	Neresian 1990
Non-specific immunity	Zhang 1989

This information is intended for educational purposes only and should not be relied upon as medical advice.