High fibre diet ingredient IP6 backed for prostate cancer prevention

10-Jan-2013 - Last updated on 10-Jan-2013 at 14:04 GMT

The compound believed to one of the ‘active ingredients’ in a high-fibre diet could have clinical potential to control the progression of prostate cancer in patients diagnosed in early stages of the disease, suggest researchers.

Writing in Cancer Prevention Research, monitored prostate cancer progression in mice fed with inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) – a major component of high-fibre diets, but also available as a dietary supplement – or a control diet .

Led by Komal Raina from the University of Colorado Cancer Center, USA, the team used MRI to monitor the progression of prostate cancer in the mice, finding that feeding with what is believed to be one of the main active ingredients of a high-fibre diet (IP6) blocked prostate tumours from making the new blood vessels they needed to supply themselves with energy.

Without this energy, prostate cancer couldn't grow, they said.

"The study's results were really rather profound,” said Raina. “We saw dramatically reduced tumour volumes, primarily due to the anti-angiogenic effects of IP6."

“These findings show that oral IP6 supplement blocks growth and angiogenesis of prostate cancer in the TRAMP model in conjunction with metabolic events involved in tumour sustenance,” wrote the research team.

“This results in energy deprivation within the tumour, suggesting a practical and translational potential of IP6 treatment in suppressing growth and progression of prostate cancer in humans,” they explained.

Cultural differences

The US-based researchers noted that while the rate of prostate cancer is similar between Asian and Western populations, the way in which the condition progresses is significantly different between the two.

"Researchers have long been looking for genetic variations between Asian and Western peoples that could explain the difference in prostate cancer progression rates,” explained Raina. “Now it seems as if the difference may not be genetic but dietary.”

“Asian cultures get IP6 whereas Western cultures generally do not," he added.

Study details

Mice genetically programmed to be predisposed to prostate cancer were given either a control diet or a diet supplemented with IP6.

Beginning at four weeks of age, the mice were fed with 1%, 2%, or 4% (w/v) IP6 in drinking water or only drinking water until 28 weeks of age. The mice were monitored using MRI over the course of study.

The team found that the IP6 supplementation blocked the formation of new blood vessels in the tumour sites – meaning that the tumours could not grow and more.

Likewise, treatment with IP6 slowed the rate at which prostate cancers metabolized glucose, said the research team.

Source: Cancer Prevention Research
Published online ahead of print, doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-12-0387
“Inositol Hexaphosphate Inhibits Tumor Growth, Vascularity, and Metabolism in TRAMP Mice: A Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Study”
Authors: Komal Raina, Kameswaran Ravichandran, Subapriya Rajamanickam, Kendra M. Huber, Natalie J. Serkova, Rajesh Agarwal

2 comments

I'm 100% convinced! IP6 shrinks tumors!

Posted by R. James Larsen, 01 February 2013 - 09:26 GMT

On October 8 of 2012 I was given the diagnosis of recurrence and significant growth of a rectal carcinoid tumor that had been first removed three years earlier, the area was 'tattooed' with ink and two weeks later I was looked at by another more specialized doctor and given the news that a significant amount of tissue would need to be removed because of the depth of the mass.
Surgery was scheduled for early January 2013 and I went home and got online to do some research on alternative therapies when I discovered a cancer survivors blog touting the benefits of IP6, It intrigued me enough that I kept looking and found studies showing good evidence that it was worth giving IP6 a try.
During the three months I had before my scheduled surgery I took 2,000 mg IP6 along with 1,000 mg regular inositol twice a day, every day.
On the day of the surgery about ten minutes into the pre-exam the doctor had to ask for the scans from the exams in October because the 'tattoo' was there but the mass didn't appear to be, he seemed somewhat surprised and continued on with the ultrasound that needed to be done before the surgery, other than the biopsy scar and the 'tattoo' he could find no evidence of the mass that had been there and no evidence that any spread had occurred to the lymph nodes. Further, extensive biopsy was done of the surrounding area (twelve spots to be exact) and this week the results came back with zero evince of carcinoid tumor activity.
I will be checked again in six months and then again in a year just to be safe, and I will continue to take the IP6.

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Rationale for Studying IP6 and Cancer Prevention

Posted by AbulKalam Shamsuddin, 24 January 2013 - 03:40 GMT

The authors are to be congratulated for yet another nice contribution to prostate cancer prevention by IP6; this is an elegant set of experiments.

They are absolutely correct in pointing towards the dietary factors being critical in differential prevalence of cancer rates in different parts of the world; indeed the very first studies of IP6 and colon cancer were based on that premise. Insofar as prostate cancer and dietary IP6 is concerned, however the correlation may not be that clear-cut; IP6 content of soybean is 0.1-1.8% as opposed to wheat (1.1-4.8%) or corn (0-6.4%), grains consumed more in the West. I had used the rationale that IP6 exerts its anticancer action by acting through the lower inositol phosphates important in cellular signal transduction common in most if not all mammalian cells, IP6 could therefore be a broad-spectrum anticancer agent. This was our rationale to successfully demonstrate the anticancer action of IP6 in various cancer models, including that of the prostate (Shamsuddin & Yang, Carcinogenesis 16:1975-1979, 1995).

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