Ellagic acid

Ellagic acid (2,3,7,8-tetrahydroxy-chromeno[5,4,3-cde]chromene-5,10-dione) is a natural antioxidant found in numerous fruits, nuts and vegetables.

Potentially edible!
Food woo
Fabulous food!
Delectable diets!
Bodacious bods!
v - t - e

It is also sold as a "food supplement" with claims of being effective against cancer,[1] heart disease and other ailments. The FDA labels it a "Fake Cancer Cure Consumers Should Avoid".[2]

So, about cancer

Studies to date have almost all been on cell cultures or animals. It actually shows slight promise, inhibiting growth of some tumours, and one cell culture study suggesting it may act against substances that help tumours form new blood vessels. In the only study so far on humans, it seemed to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy in prostate cancer, but did not actually slow disease progression or improve survival.

If you want to try this, some studies suggest you just eat foods containing it, e.g. a nonrandomized study of men with prostate cancer reported pomegranate juice as slowing the increase in blood level of prostate-specific antigen.[3]

gollark: Very efficient.
gollark: We have advanced processing units built out of magnetic monopole matter and manipulation of the structure of space-time.
gollark: Ours are kept in stellar plasma, actually.
gollark: I have 3GB of search indices and they don't even allow rapid search through memetic hazards.
gollark: Anyway, I need semantic search over memes quite badly. Also my paper archive.

References
  1. FDA slapping supplement pusher upside the head for claiming it cures cancer
  2. 187 Fake Cancer "Cures" Consumers Should Avoid (US Food and Drug Administration)
  3. Ellagic Acid (American Cancer Society)
This article is issued from Rationalwiki. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.