Pills made from sticky rice, red wine, berries and spice could prevent cancer, say scientists.
The drugs would be taken like daily vitamins to protect against tumours in the breast, bowel and prostate.  In tests on human cells, compounds from the foods and wine were found to reduce cancer risk by 40 per cent.  Now Professor Will Steward, an expert in molecular medicine, is investigating whether they will work in tablet form on the human body. "These drugs have proved highly effective in the laboratory - it is extraordinary,' he said. They act in numerous ways on pre- cancerous cells, but they also appear to be effective on cancerous cells. 'We know they are safe to use but we want to establish if they are effective in humans.'

He added: 'We do not know whether there will be a 40 per cent reduction in risk in the body - it could be more, it could be less.'

Professor Steward identified the compounds after searching for drugs that stop cells becoming malignant, a technique called chemoprevention. His work at the University of Leicester was prompted by research which found that rural populations in Thailand with a diet rich in sticky rice are less likely to develop breast cancer. The four compounds are tricin, found in Thai sticky rice, resveratrol from red wine, curcumin from turmeric and antioxidants from bilberries called anthocyanins.

Clinical trials of four pills - each using one of the compounds - have already begun. Resveratrol has been made into a tablet by a Canadian company and has been tested on 40 volunteers. Curcumin pills have been tried on 80 people with a high risk of colon cancer in Leicester. And other trials are looking at the effectiveness of the two remaining chemicals. Professor Steward announced the development at the National Cancer Research Institute conference in Birmingham yesterday. He said the chemicals appeared to work by entering the nucleus of cells and altering the way that DNA and other molecules pass messages around which lead to malignancy. Clinical trials on the drugs will last at least five years, meaning they would not be available until at least 2012.

Professor Karol Sikora of London's Imperial College said: 'We know that fruit and vegetables prevent cancer and there is no magic to it, so there must be some ingredients in different foods that are going to help. 'Ideally, you would get people changing their lifestyles but a tablet is clearly going to be of help. This is a really exciting area.'    d.martin@dailymail.co.uk

 


 



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