LIFE EXTENSION UPDATE JULY 27 2001
IN THIS ISSUE, JULY 27 2001:
LIFE EXTENSION UPDATE EXCLUSIVE: Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention
Trial (SELECT)
PROTOCOL: Prostate cancer overview, PSA parameters and hereditary factors
FEATURED PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK: Super Selenium Complex, Saw palmetto/nettle
root softgels;
Chat live with Dr Baer August 1
LIFE EXTENSION UPDATE EXCLUSIVE
Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial (SELECT)
The National Cancer Institute and the Southwest Oncololgy Group, a research
organization, are recruiting volunteers for the largest prostate cancer
prevention trial to date. The study will last twelve years and will test
the preventive benefits of selenium and vitamin E, separately and together,
against prostate cancer. Both nutrients have shown preventive benefits
against cancer in other clinical trials. The study will be known as the
Selenium and Vitamin E Cancer Prevention Trial, or SELECT.
Participants are being recruited from four hundred sites in the United
States including Puerto Rico, and Canada. The trial's organizers are
seeking male volunteers aged fifty-five and over who have not been diagnosed
with any cancer (with the exception of nonmelanoma skin cancer).
African-American men may join at age fifty because of the younger average
age at which prostate cancer is diagnosed in this group. There is no upper
age limit for volunteers.
Southwest Oncology Group Chairman Charles A Coltman, Jr, MD, stated, "We are
looking for quite a few good men to join SELECT because it is an incredibly
important prostate cancer prevention study. Previous research with vitamin E
and selenium -- in studies focused on other kinds of cancer -- suggested
that these nutrients might prevent prostate cancer. SELECT is focused on
prostate cancer and, when the study is finished, we will know for sure
whether these supplements can prevent the disease."
The study will seek to confirm the benefits of the selenium and vitamin E
observed in previous trials. One, in 1996, investigated the benefit of
selenium supplementation in the prevention of nonmelanoma skin cancer.
Although the mineral did not prevent skin cancer, male participants
experienced a 60% decrease in the incidence of prostate cancer compared to
the control population. In another study involving 29,000 male smokers,
vitamin E supplementation was associated with a 32% reduction in prostate
cancer incidence.
NCI Division of Cancer Prevention's associate director for clinical
research, Leslie Ford, MD, commented, "SELECT is the critical next step for
pursuing the promising leads we saw for the prevention of prostate cancer.
The only way to determine the real value of these supplements for prostate
cancer is to do a large clinical trial focused specifically on this
disease."
Although joining the study provides an excellent opportunity to aid the
progress of medical research, the possibility of receiving an inert placebo
and the prerequisite that one not take supplements containing either vitamin
E or selenium for the length of the trial could be unwise for men at risk of
the disease. Because moderate doses of these nutrients have caused little
in the way of side effects for most people, we may all benefit from lifelong
supplementation to help prevent cancer and other diseases.
Men interested in participating can visit http://www.crab.org/select/ or
call the NCI at 1 800 4CANCER.
PROTOCOL
Prostate Cancer Overview
The Life Extension Foundation has developed an extensive array of integrated
prostate cancer therapies based on published scientific findings and the
clinical experience of practicing oncologists. After reading the following
Overview, many lay people will require the assistance of their attending
oncologist, as some of the protocols are technically challenging. This
Overview should be read first by the patient and the physician, and then the
appropriate protocol(s) referred to depending upon the stage of the disease
and the therapies being considered. A complete listing of these specific
prostate cancer protocols is printed at the end of this Overview.
Unlike most forms of cancer, early-stage prostate cancer is usually
controllable with hormone (testosterone)-blocking therapy. The drugs used to
contain early-stage prostate cancer are FDA-approved, yet only a small
percentage of urologists are using hormone-blocking therapy properly in
treating early-stage prostate cancer patients. The scientific literature
indicates that radical prostatectomy (surgical removal of the prostate) and
external beam radiation therapy fail to produce an acceptable percentage of
long-term, disease-free survival. The severe long-term side effects of these
conventional therapies (surgery and external-beam radiation) are well
documented.
In lieu of radical surgery or external beam radiation, prostate cancer
patients may want to consider the Life Extension Foundation's early- stage
protocols that incorporate combined testosterone, 5-alpha-reductase, and
prolactin inhibition for temporary control of most prostate cancers.
Innovative natural therapies can be implemented upon the initiation of
hormone-blocking drug therapies. The goal is to give these natural
therapies an opportunity to keep the PSA (prostate-specific antigen)
measurement at a nondetectable level after the discontinuation of 3 to 12
months of combined hormone blockade.
Intermittent hormone-blockade drug therapy is advised for almost all
prostate cancer patients, since this greatly enhances the time before
prostate cancer cells become androgen-independent. Intermittent therapy
involves a prostate cancer patient only using hormone blockade for 3 to 12
months, and then waiting until the PSA score approaches 20 before resuming.
This of course is a general guideline for physicians and patients to
consider.
http://www.lef.org/cgi-local/welcome.cgi/id=3117/sgroup_id=699/welcome.html
Prostate cancer: PSA parameters and hereditary factors
Prostate cancer (PC) is now being linked to genetic abnormalities that
explain the familial occurrence of PC that we frequently see. An
understanding of why PC affects certain populations of men more than others
is now becoming better understood. We know that PC is equally as prevalent
in Asian men as in Western men, but that the frequency of biologically
aggressive PC is significantly greater in the non-Asian population. This
finding is felt to be possibly related to the lower amount of dietary fat in
the Asian diet as well as the frequent use of soy products and a higher
intake of green tea polyphenols (Aldercreutz et al., Proc. Annu. Meet.
Cancer Res.).
In the United States, 74% of men with PC are considered to have "sporadic"
PC, while the remaining 26% demonstrate evidence of genetic clustering.
Within the 26%, 19% are cases of hereditary PC (HPC) versus 81% designated
as familial PC (FPC) (Bastacky et al., J. Urol., 1995). Familial prostate
cancer is defined as the simple clustering of the cancer in families,
whereas hereditary prostate cancer requires any of the following three
criteria: a family with three generations affected, three first-degree
(brother[s] or father) relatives affected, or three relatives affected
before the age of 55 years (Carter et al., J. Urol., 1993). Men with either
FPC or HPC are prime candidates for preventive approaches involving
nutritional adjuncts.
http://www.lef.org/cgi-local/welcome.cgi/id=3119/sgroup_id=699/welcome.html
**************************************************
FEATURED PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK
Super Selenium Complex
As an essential cofactor of glutathione peroxidase, selenium is an important
antioxidant. It is also involved with iodine metabolism, pancreatic
function, DNA repair, immunity and the detoxification of heavy metals.
Studies have shown that selenium can help prevent some cancers and
cataracts.
Super Selenium Complex contains the most advanced forms of selenium on the
market. Vitamin E has been added because it works synergistically with
selenium.
http://www.lef.org/cgi-local/welcome.cgi/id=151065551/sgroup_id=699/welcome.
html
Saw Palmetto/Nettle Root Extract
Enlargement of the prostate gland occurs in most men with advancing age and
is accompanied by reduced urinary flow and increased residual urine volume.
Hormonal imbalances have previously been blamed for age related prostate
disorders, but other factors have been identified as causes of the benign
proliferation of prostate cells (BPH) and accompanying urinary impairment
caused by this condition. Men with severe BPH often use a combination of saw
palmetto and pygeum to improve urine flow and bladder voiding. These men
usually wake up less frequently at night to urinate.
Newly published studies reveal evidence that men over age 50 should take
nettle root extract in addition to saw palmetto extract, for the purpose of
preventing prostate diseases. As men age, their ratio of estrogen to
testosterone increases, making it important to inhibit the effects of
estrogens, sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG), and dihydrotestosterone
(DHT). While saw palmetto protects against prostate enlargement caused by
DHT, nettle root is required to inhibit the proliferation of prostate cells
in response to estrogen and SHBG. Since we now have a biochemical
understanding of how nettle functions in the body, it would appear that most
men could both prevent and effectively treat BPH by taking Super Saw
Palmetto/Nettle Root.
Super Saw Palmetto/Nettle Root contains a methanolic nettle root extract
that is more effective than the former ethanol extract, as well as the
highly effective supercritical CO2 saw palmetto extract.
http://www.lef.org/cgi-local/welcome.cgi/id=151065552/sgroup_id=699/welcome.
html
*********************************************************
Chat with Dr Baer
Chat live with Dr Andrew Baer, Wednesday, August 1, at 7:00 pm eastern time
and 7:00 pacific time. Visit http://www.lef.org/chat/ for a message from
Dr Baer:
"I am Dr. Andrew Baer, one of Life Extension's Medical Advisors. I am sure
most of you did not know that the Life Extension Web Site is one of the top
medical sites in the United States. It achieved this distinction solely
because of your support. So we would now like to provide you with a service
that, to the best of my knowledge, has not yet been provided by any medical
web site in the United States - a live chat moderated by a physician."
http://www.lef.org/cgi-local/welcome.cgi/id=151065554/sgroup_id=699/welcome.
html
For longer life,
Dayna Dye
Editor, Life Extension Update
ddye@lifeextension.com
Life Extension Foundation
www.lef.org
1 800 841 LIFE
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Fri Oct 12 2001 - 14:39:57 MDT