http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2010/09/14/stepping-up-the-science-on-botanical-supplements-and-health/"The federal government is stepping up research into the safety and effectiveness of over-the-counter supplements known as botanicals, including St. John’s wort, elderberry, soy and plant oils, according to today’s Informed Patient column.
The National Institutes of Health is funding five dietary supplement research centers to the tune of more than $37 million for the next five years, primarily through its National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. That will build on a research program that has awarded more than $250 million in related grants over the last decade. Though the center has been criticized for wasting federal funds on dubious research, scientists delving into botanicals say there is enough evidence of potential health benefits to warrant further study.
Most of the research is strictly in the lab for now, using cultured human cells and animal models to identify botanical compounds and mixtures that might be effective in preventing a wide range of diseases, including prostate cancer, heart disease and dementia. But Dennis Lubahn, who runs the University of Missouri’s Center for Botanical Interaction Studies, tells the Health Blog that the ultimate aim is to provide pre-clinical data to support more human trials to test the benefits of botanicals.
“Everyone is focusing on a different disease to try and move things forward,” Lubahn says. His center, for example, is culturing human prostate cancer cells to identify botanical compounds with potential activity against that kind of tumor, which is affected by dietary and hormone mediators. One hypothesis is that soy, a form of plant estrogen, contains botanical compounds that might be able to prevent the progression of prostate cancer by affecting one of the proteins that accelerates the disease.
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Just FYI. Early stages continue to be the story.
:hi:
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