According to scientists, broccoli contains a chemical called sulphoraphane, which activates cancer-fighting enzymes inside cells.  Researchers say the richest source of sulphoraphane is contained in sprouts.

In a demonstration of the plant’s anti-cancer properties, investigators smeared broccoli sprout extract on the skin of six volunteers for three days, and then exposed them to high doses of ultraviolet radiation, which is the leading cause of skin cancer.

They found there was an average 37 percent less redness and sunburn in the patches covered by broccoli extract.  Redness and sunburn are an indication of skin damage that could lead to cancer.

The results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Paul Talalay is a Johns Hopkins University molecular pharmacologist and the author of the study.  Talalay says sunscreen conferred no protection against the UV rays, but he says that does not mean people should stop using it.

“We want to avoid under all circumstances people doing weird things like making broccoli sprout soup and applying to their skin and thinking that they will be protected against the sun,” he said.  “They will have not have any protection whatsoever, because it’s a totally different mechanism and one cannot possibly substitute for the other.”

Applied as a thick cream, sunscreen protects the skin by deflecting the sun’s harmful rays.  But it must be constantly reapplied to remain effective.

In contrast, Talalay says, a compound made of broccoli sprouts works by penetrating skin cells and stimulating their natural cancer-fighting mechanism.

Observers call the research promising, but say more studies are needed because the results varied considerably among participants, ranging from a low of eight percent to a high of 78 percent protection against sunburn.  Talalay disagrees.

“Everybody knows you go to the beach and you get fried and I go to the beach and nothing happens to me,” he added.  “And we are in the same place.  So, the same experiment if done in a large number of individuals would be much more complex.  But I believe that the evidence certainly from animal studies is that we would get absolutely the same result.”

Talalay believes if it works in the skin, a sulphoraphane extract from broccoli sprouts is very likely to act as a hedge against cancer in other organs.

Meanwhile, researchers say there are a number of challenges in making a sun cream from broccoli sprouts, not the least of which is figuring out how to get rid of the green tint.

Those who drink one or two cups of tea daily may have a lower risk of developing two types of skin cancer by 20 to 30 percent. In a study conducted on nearly 2,200 adults, researchers found that tea drinkers had a lower risk of developing squamous cell and basal cell carcinoma, the two most common forms of skin cancer.

The findings were published in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Tea drinking did not show any effect on the worst skin cancer, melanoma. Still, the findings support the theory that tea antioxidants may limit the damage UV radiation inflicts on the skin, according to the study authors, led by Dr. Judy R. Rees of Dartmouth Medical School in Lebanon, New Hampshire.

The researchers do warn that it is not okay to bake in the sun and then have a cup of tea afterwards.

The study did not mention what specific types of teas might be more beneficial than others.

A type of brown marine seaweed contains brown algae called poly-phenols (BAPs), that might protect against skin cancers caused by ultraviolet B (UVB) radiation. UVB radiation in sunlight is thought to be responsible for most cases of non-melanoma skin cancers diagnosed in the United States.

Research has shown that BAPs are strong antioxidants and have many anti-cancer properties. The animals that were fed the brown algae in their diet had a reduction of skin tumors up to sixty percent.

The study was led by researchers at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center. “These compounds seemed to be dramatically effective at fairly low doses both orally and topically” says principal investigator Gary D Stoner.

I guess getting skin cancer from prolonged sun exposure or from the harmful ultraviolet rays was not enough, now we have the tanning salons added in the list too.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer said that Tanning beds have dramatically increased the risk of skin cancer in young users in their teens and 20s.

Its research also showed that tanning booths had no positive health effects.

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Your doctor must have told you a million times to have plenty of vegetables. Now your doctor has just another reason to say that because eating green, leafy vegetables may be as important as wearing hats and sunscreen in the prevention of skin cancer.

An eleven-year study by the Queensland Institute of Medical Research involving 1,000 people in Nambour, on the Sunshine Coast, investigated the impact of healthy dietary habits on skin cancer and found those who ate at least three serves of green leafy vegetables a week reduced their risk of skin cancer by up to 55 per cent.

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Men over the age of 60 are more than twice as likely to die from skin cancer than women of the same age, health chiefs say.

New figures show the number of Victorian men diagnosed with malignant melanoma had increased by more than 30 per cent for those aged between 60 and 80.

Associate Professor John Kelly, a dermatologist who heads the Victorian Melanoma Service, said aggressive nodular melanomas grew by as much as half a millimetre in depth every month and many men were being diagnosed too late.

“By the time we see many of these men, it is too late for surgery to prevent spread to other parts of the body,” Professor Kelly said.

“This is a wake-up call to older men – be vigilant, check your skin regularly, see your doctor and don’t assume everything will be alright.”

Experts say projected death rates among men in the 60-plus age group are expected to increase around the country by as much as 20 per cent in the next five years.

The figures contrast with those for women and younger men with the death rate increasing more slowly.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare statistics for 2004 show that men between 65 and 69 years of age had almost three times the risk of dying from skin cancer than women per 100,000 head of population.

Prof Kelly said while the sun smart message was now common, in many cases the damage had been done several decades ago.

“We know considerable damage was done decades earlier when it was commonplace for men not to wear shirts or to apply sunscreen regularly,” he said.

“Unfortunately, older men still do not appear to be particularly vigilant about sun protection and are paying the ultimate price.”

Source: The Age

Scientists have developed a way of “executing” cancer cells.

Healthy cells have a built-in process which means they commit suicide if something is wrong, a process which fails in cancer cells.

The University of Illinois team created a synthetic molecule which caused cancer cells to self-destruct.

Cancer experts said the study, in Nature Chemical Biology, offered “exciting possibilities” for new ways of treating the disease.

One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is their resistance to the body’s cell suicide signals, which allow them to survive and develop into tumors.

All cells contain a protein called procaspase-3, which the body should be able to turn into caspase-3 – an executioner enzyme.

But this transformation does not happen in cancer cells, even though certain types, such as colon cancer, leukemia, skin and liver cancers paradoxically have very high levels of procaspase-3.

The researchers examined more than 20,000 structurally different synthetic compounds to see if any could trigger procaspase-3 to develop into caspase-3.

They found the molecule PAC-1 did trigger the transformation, and cancer cells from mice and from human tumors could be prompted to self-destruct – a process called apoptosis.

The more procaspase-3 a cancer cell had, the less of the molecule was needed.

Healthy cells, such as white blood cells, were found to be significantly less affected by the addition of PAC-1 because they had much lower levels of procaspase-3, so cell-suicide could not be triggered.

When the scientists tested PAC-1 on cancerous and non-cancerous tissue from the same person, the tumor cells were 2,000-fold more sensitive to PAC-1.

Since different levels of procaspase-3 were found in the cell lines studied, the researchers suggest some patients would be more responsive to this therapy than others, so it might one day be possible to tailor treatments to individual patients.

Professor Paul Hergenrother, who led the research, said: “This is the first in what could be a host of organic compounds with the ability to directly activate executioner enzymes.

“The potential effectiveness of compounds such as PAC-1 could be predicted in advance, and patients could be selected for treatment based on the amount of procaspase-3 found in their tumour cells.”

Cancer Research UK expert Dr Michael Olson, who is based at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research in Glasgow, said: “These findings present an exciting new therapeutic strategy for the treatment of some cancers.

“It remains to be seen which, if any tumour types consistently express elevated procaspase-3. That will tell us how many patients could potentially benefit from the drug.

“Clinical trials will be needed to confirm whether procaspase-3 causes any adverse effects in humans.”

Source: BBC News

It would certainly be better to identify those who are at a higher risk for developing melanoma so that they can be thoroughly screened. This is exactly what might be possible says the Journal of Clinical Oncology.A study was done that showed if patients were given a questionnaire and a brief examination they could identify who was at a higher risk for melanoma to develop. This information can lead to these individuals getting further interventions such as a complete skin evaluation and counseling to avoid sun exposure.

The researchers stress that this is not a way to identify current melanoma cases but to identify who should have a more thorough exam. Finding melanoma early can lead to 100 percent cure. If you see anything that is about the size of a pencil eraser, is not uniform in color and does not have rounded edges you should see a Dermatologist.

Dr. Fears of the National Cancer Institute in Maryland says “Such interventions in high risk individuals may lead to detection of early, curable disease or to a decrease in their risk of developing melanoma.”

In the August issue of Archives of Dermatology there is a report on research done showing three ways to remove precancerous skin growths. Acid skin peel, laser resurfacing and chemotherapy cream all removed precancerous growths. What is also really exciting is the fact that these procedures can also slow the development of new skin cancers.Physicians usually will burn off the growths with liquid nitrogen but this study shows that there are other ways that work just as well. Larger studies need to be done to confirm their findings.

The study showed that all the treatments worked, reducing the number of precancerous skin growths by 83 percent for the chemo cream, 89 percent for the skin peel and 92 percent for the laser treatment.

THE ozone layer above Scotland is thinner than at any point in the last ten years, according to new research which has prompted fresh concerns over skin cancer rates.

Levels of ozone, which play a crucial role in helping to filter out harmful ultraviolet rays from the sun, were thought to be rising after the systematic banning of the CFC chemicals which were damaging it.

But now experts believe global warming is changing conditions in the upper atmosphere and leading to a reduction in levels again.

Cancer experts warned yesterday that the results meant it was more important than ever for people to take precautions when in the sun.

Last year’s ozone level, recorded by a monitoring station on Lerwick, was the lowest since 1996 and the second lowest since 1981.

A spokeswoman for the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA), which will discuss the situation at a conference this autumn, said less ozone in the upper atmosphere could have harmful effects on humans, animals and plants.

“In general, a reduction in ozone layer is likely to result in increased ultra-violet radiation reaching the Earth’s surface,” she said.

“While small amounts of UV radiation are beneficial, prolonged exposure may result in effects on the skin, eyes and immune system, including an increased risk of developing skin cancer and cataracts.

“Animals and plants may experience harmful effects with resulting consequences for biodiversity and food supply.”

More than 70,000 new cases of skin cancer are diagnosed every year in Britain, with 1,800 people dying from the disease. The incidence of melanoma, the most serious skin cancer, has doubled over the past 20 years.

Dr Michael Edward, skin cancer development expert from the department of dermatology at the University of Glasgow, warned the findings meant it was more important than ever for people to take sensible precautions before going out in the sun.

“UVB rays which are a major cause of skin cancer and primarily responsible for causing sunburn and skin ageing.

“A small depletion of the ozone layer will not effect UVA levels but should have a profound effect on levels of UVB getting through. So you may find that a 5 per cent depletion in the ozone layer won’t result in a 5 per increase in skin cancer. We are more likely to be looking at a rate of 15 per cent over the years.”

CFC chemicals, which destroy ozone and were commonly used in fridges, were phased out as a result of the Montreal Protocol of 1987. However the planet is still experiencing the effects of products that were already on the market before the ban.

And yesterday scientists from the United Nations’ weather organisation warned it will take the atmosphere up to 15 years longer than previously predicted to repair the ozone hole over the southern atmosphere.

Dr Mathew Heal, a senior lecturer in environmental chemistry at Edinburgh University, said:

“The lifetimes of the chemicals in the atmosphere is extremely long. Even in optimistic scenarios it is going to take decades for stratospheric ozone to go back to pre-CFC levels.”

Source: Scotsman