To shed a little light on our discussion of the Ursolic Acid, Reservatrol and Curcumin cocktail, I took the liberty (copy of email appears below) to one of the authors of the paper we gave been discussing. It's been my experience, that research scientists often choose not to answer or their answers are very "guarded," for obvious legal reasons. However, should the researcher reply, I will post it.
"Dear Professor Lodi,
I am a member of HealthUnlocked a discussion forum for people with advanced
prostate cancer. One of the participants recently posted a link to your research
paper "Combinatorial treatment with natural compounds in prostate cancer
inhibits prostate tumor growth and leads to key modulations of cancer cell
metabolism." The content of the paper has created quite a stir among
participants who are eager to apply some of your findings in their own regimens.
I'm sure you are quite aware that people with serious diseases are always on the
look out for less toxic ways of managing their illnesses. Since most of us
already take curcumin and resveratrol, it would be easy to add ursolic acid.
However, there is a great discussion going on how to combine these three
substances so that a "therapeutic" dose is achieved. It's not easy, though,
translating the units used in the study (ug ml, ug dl, etc.) into something a
layperson understands; nor is it easy to go from test tube and studies with mice
to human beings. This is our problem. Thinking in terms of mg and grams, which
most of us are used to, it is almost impossible to make the leap. For example, I
recently read somewhere, I believe it was a University of Utah study, that the
amount of ursolic acid we would need for a therapeutic effect would be
approximately 2% of a day's intake of food. Using apples (with each apple
calculated at 100 grams), it would take about eleven apples to supply that much
ursolic acid. Different research papers are all over the map when it comes to
curcumin (three grams?) and resveratrol (250-500 mg?). Probably these amounts
would be reduced because of the synergy between these three nutrients. But,
again, there are the issues of "purity" (standardized to what?) and
bioavailability. Members of the Forum have different suggestions about which
product is the most bio-available and what strength and standardization to use.
It's almost all anecdotal.
What we would like to ask of you Professor Lodi, and your fellow researchers, is
to provide us with some kind of "guidance" regarding these issues I have
outlined above.I realize that your paper is just the initial step in the
research process until the gap between animal studies and Homo sapiens is closed
and that you cannot make outright recommendations (for legal reasons, I'm sure),
but whatever guidance you may provide would certainly be appreciated by all of
us!
I will post a copy of this email on our website, but should you reply, I will
also post your reply on our website. Thank you.
Best wishes, (name removed)