As you know a couple of weeks ago, I wrote an email to a Professor Lodi listed on the paper outlining a possible treatment modality involving Ursolic Acid, Curcumin & Resveratrol to treat cancer metabolism. I posted my letter here on this site. Well, for whatever reason (sabbatical, vacation, not interested, too busy, etc.), Professor Lodi has not replied as of 7/5. Not one to be discouraged so easily, I wrote an additional letter, similar to the one to Professor Lodi, but with important additions: my own extrapolation from some of the data provided into a formula that we might use. I have asked this other researcher, Professor Tiziani, whose name appears under "contact," for his input. I might add one thing: these people work for a public university, the University of Texas, which I assume pays their salaries and for at least some of their research work: NIH is also listed as a contributor to the grant that funded this paper. While they are not necessarily required to translate their work into terms we can understand nor provide any professional advice, they are receiving public funds and therefore owe us the courtesy of at least responding to the email and explaining why they won't or are unable to help us.
Dear Professor Tiziani,
You are listed as the contact person for inquires re your recent paper, the implementation of natural compounds in cancer treatment. I am a member of HealthUnlocked which is an open discussion forum on the Internet. We are mainly concerned with prostate cancer. Many of the members are in the advanced stage of this disease, so it is very important to them when they read articles about cancer treatment, especially ones citing the use of natural sources. The members are well-aware of the traditional allopathic treatments available to them. They are always interested in finding something from the natural realm which they may use to augment their current treatments. Your article is written, of course, for other scientists and researchers to read, not the lay public. The employment of scientific measurements to measure results is difficult for us to translate into measurements (mg, mcg, grams)more familiar to us). While we are very excited by some of the material presented in the paper, unfortunately, as it is written, we really are unable to apply much of the information in our own lives.
The only "hint" we have is "...AIN764-based diet containing 1.0% CUR, 0.2% UA and 0.5% RES."
Extrapolation of these figures, based on an average person consuming 4 lbs. of food a day would result in Curcumin= 1400 mg;
Ursolic Acie= 300 mg;
Resveratrol= 700 mg
These amounts, in combination, would provide a therapeutic effect. Without committing yourself to any "prescriptive" advice, could you say that the above percentages might fairly accurately translate your finding with mice and other lab work into a useful formula for supplementation? We really would appreciate whatever guidance you may provide to assist us in implementing some of the findings presented in your research paper.
Thank you.
Best of health,
(name removed)
Written by
Kuanyin
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I did check out your reference. I don't know whether you are being ironic or serious when you place "alternative" in parenthesis, but when I read the following statement, a bell goes off in my head.
"The Chaga Mushroom has the highest ORAC score for natural foods or supplements as tested by the USDA and Tufts University. ORAC Results Fruits and Vegetables per 100g / 3.5oz (Conducted by Tuffs University Dept. of Health Sciences Boston, MA:U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Institute of Health Project Expo 2003)" I have been reading this stuff about ORAC (different lists, all claiming to be authentic. Of the top 16 foods lited, I eat at least 11 (in different combinations) every day. I don't think there are any serious studies linking ORAC anti-oxidant activity in the body.
--The huge knock on the ORAC score is that it’s done in a test tube, and sometimes what happens in a test tube has no correlation to what happens in your body. None.
Why?
-The free radicals used in an ORAC test don’t occur in the body
There are about 1,234,845.6 different types of oxidizing reactions that can take place in your body, and an ORAC score measures exactly 1 of them.
ORAC scores can actually differ for the same food depending on the particular method used.
ORAC scores can lower by as much as 90% when foods are cooked or processed
Different antioxidant molecules behave very differently in an ORAC test
The biological significance of the ORAC test has actually not been determined
ORAC scores can be easily manipulated.
At best it means ORAC scores can be a general approximation of the antioxidant potential of a food. At worst it means an ORAC score can be completely useless and a tool for manipulation.
How ORAC scores may be manipulated.
-The measuring units of the ORAC score can change with the density of the food. So a grape can actually have a lower antioxidant score than a raisin which comes from the exact same food source.
This means the antioxidizing capabilities of natural foods which are high in water can be underestimated while highly processed foods which have had the water and insides sucked out of them can be overestimated using an ORAC score. The ORAC score also hasn’t been officially validated by federal agencies and companies get in trouble all the time for attaching false health claims to ORAC scores.
It’s also important to understand that the value of antioxidants is dependent on the bulk quantity consumed. So even though turmeric or wolfberry or whatever might be an extremely powerful antioxidant it still won’t mean much if you only add a teaspoon to your recipes every week. The overall effect is nil.
Thanks for your reply. I think you should re-check Muscadine grapes which I used to take for several years. High in antioxidant values, but low in Resveratrol. Muscadines work and do have an anti-prostate cancer effect, but the mechanism by which they accomplish this works differently from grapes high in Resveratrol. I use the brand Reservage Plus Pterostilbene which contains, among other ingredients, Whole French Red Wine Grape--skin, seeds, fruits, stem, vine--Certified Muscadine Whole Red Wine Grape plus 25 mg of Pterostilbene. As a bonus, you get the organic toenails of the farmers who lovingly stomped on the grapes to provide us with this elixir.
Sorry, these guys seldom reply. I sent an email to someone who has a patent on a special form of berberine chloride in Taiwan. The patent is listed as such on the Internet, as is the process used to obtain it. I had a couple of questions regarding amount, strength, etc., that were never answered. Honestly, I can't figure these people (researchers) out: we, as those who should benefit from their research, don't even appear in the equation.
They're researchers and as such they are not likely to reply at all and we must understand why. The research they've conducted on the efficacy of Curcumin, Ursolic Acid, and Reservatrol only demostrates their findings at this point and has not been peer reviewed and substantiated by other studies. Therefore, it is not "science fact" yet, but remains inconclusive.
Science is very rigorous, so you don't go "jumping off the couch" on the first experiment that looks like a "health goldmine" with it. Though we may want the two scientist to substantiate their findings, at this point, sorry, they can't.
Further, what works on mice, though it may show miraculous results, often does not translate into the same results for humans. The only way for us to find out is for the studies to move into clinical phases with humans and demonstrate a number of promising factors related to toxicity at effective levels, overall safety, bioavailability, stability, therapeutic duration in body, etc.
And why do we need to waste time waiting on the response of scientists when these supplements can be obtained everywhere. And trying to figure out an exact milligram to body kilogram ratio has its own intervening factors to skew it.
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