A new Italian study suggests that crocins, natural carotenoid chemical compounds found in saffron (Crocus sativus L.), and crocetin esters, which are produced in the gastrointestinal tract after saffron ingestion, both may be aid in preventing or treating prostate cancer.
In their study researchers describe how criocins and corcetin esters exert potent anticancer activity in prostate cancer cell cultures and prostate cancer xenografted male nude mice.
Researchers’ early studies have also shown that saffron and crocin have an anticancer activity against prostate cancer by promoting cell cycle arrest.
The current study demonstrates that crocetin esters are more potent than saffron and crocins, suggesting that carotenoids isolated from saffron and other herbs or plants may be used as a preventative or therapeutical to prevent or treat prostate cancer.
Source: Claudio Festuccia, Andrea Mancini, Giovanni Luca Gravina, Luca Scarsella, Silvia Llorens, Gonzalo L. Alonso, Carla Tatone, Ernesto Di Cesare, Emmanuele A. Jannini, Andrea Lenzi, Anna M. D’Alessandro, and Manuel Carmona, Antitumor Effects of Saffron-Derived Carotenoids in Prostate Cancer Cell Models, BioMed Research International, Volume 2014 (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/
Journal Link: http://bit.ly/1sGkl8S
