Bitter Mellon Kills Breast Cancer Cells

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Odd Vegetable Kills Breast Cancer Cells

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Getty Images By Marrecca Fiore

A vegetable used in Chinese and Indian medicine to treat diabetes may also

destroy _breast cancer_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/condition-center/breast-cancerâ€%20target=) cells,

according to a study published in the March 1

issue of “Cancer Research,†a journal of the American Association for

Cancer

Research.

Lead researcher _Ratna Ray_

(http://vaccine.slu.edu/index.php?page=ratna-ray-ph-dâ€%20target=) , Ph.D., a

professor in the department of pathology at

_Saint Louis University_ (http://www.slu.edu/index.xmlâ€%20target=) , uses

bitter melon in her stir fries but was surprised to find the vegetable’s

extract also appears to “kill†breast cancer cells and prevent them from

multiplying.

“To our knowledge, this is the first report describing the effect of bitter

melon extract on cancer cells,†Ray said in a statement. “Our result was

encouraging. We have shown that bitter melon extract significantly induced

death in _breast cancer_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/conditions/breast-cancer-major-1/exams-and-testsâ€%20\

target=) cells and decreased their growth and

spread.â€

Bitter melon gets its name because it's among the most bitter of all

vegetables, although it's also called _African cucumber, balsam pear and bitter

gourd_ (http://www.medicinehunter.com/BitterMelon.htmâ€%20target=) . It is

widely grown and used in India, Southeast Asia, China, Africa, and the

Caribbean. It resembles a shriveled cucumber or gourd and the texture of the

vegetable is described as being similar to both a cucumber and bell pepper.

It's high in fiber and vitamin C. It also contains the B vitamins, riboflavin,

thiamine, niacin and B6, as well as magnesium, potassium and zinc.

In the East, bitter melon is often used in stir fries, soups, and stews, as

well as for pickling.

In the U.S., bitter melon can purchased at specialty grocery stores,

especially _Asian_

(http://www.asiamex.com/proddetail.cfm?CFID=37459285 & CFTOKEN=79186366 & ItemID=103\

& CategoryID=36 & SubCatID=101) and Indian grocers.

Supplements have become very popular with Americans due to the vegetable's

widely

touted blood sugar benefits and can be purchased in both health food and

health supplement stores such as _GNC_

(http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2879624 & lmdn=Ingredient & cp=37032\

46â€%20) , as well as in

_drugstores_

(http://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/catalog/shop_sub_category.jsp?itemId=cat3491 & filterBy\

=default & navCount=9 & navAction=push) . It can also be purchased as a

_tea_

(http://www.asianfoodgrocer.com/QuickSearch;jsessionid=7E012646F57330098D78412C9\

61344D5â€%20target=) .

Because bitter melon has been used for diabetes management and to lower

cholesterol, Ray decided to test its ability to fight breast cancer.

She used human _breast cancer_

(http://www.aolhealth.com/conditions/breast-cancer-major-1/exams-and-testsâ€%20\

target=) cells in a controlled

laboratory setting to conduct her experiments. She said the next step would be

to

test the extract in animals.

“Cancer prevention by the use of naturally occurring dietary substances is

considered a practical approach to reduce the ever-increasing incidence of

cancer. Studying a high-risk breast cancer population where bitter melon is

taken as a dietary product will be an important area of future research,â€

Ray said.

Ray said bitter melon will probably not prove to be a miracle drug as women

in places such as Asia where the vegetable is widely eaten still get

breast cancer.