Thursday, February 4, 2010

Another Reason to Eat Soy


Colon Cancer in the third most dealdy form of cancer in the US. Soy has been known for it's protective qualities agianst colon cancer for a long time; however, scientists at a Children's Hospital & Research Center in Oakland have found a natural lipid molecule called Sphingadienes that may underlie soy's benefits. Sphingadienes was first identified in research on fruit flys, which are often used to study human disease.

This study has shown that Sphingadienes are cytotoxic compounds, which makes them toxic to cells and can induce cell death in mutant cancer cells. Discovering this is very important to people who work to make drugs that could prevent and cure colon cancer. "It's very exciting," said Dr. Saba. "First, we are encouraged to find a natural molecule that could be consumed through soy products as a strategy to help prevent colon cancer. Second, this information is important because we can build on our understanding of the structure and metabolism of SDs in terms of developing new drugs to treat people who already have colon cancer. Uncovering how SDs exert their effects also helps us to find the most likely combinations of drugs that may work synergistically to eliminate cancer cells and mutant cells that could give rise to cancer."

Here is a link to learn more!

1 comment:

  1. So now not only do we believe that colon cancer can be prevented with the use of soy, but we also believe that there is a possibility it could be cured. So now we may have a new cure to colon cancer. Through soy a natural vegetable we can include in everyday life. Through further research I wonder what other drugs we use soy in or other things we can cure with the use of soy.

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