|
Kefir inhibits tumor growth: animal study
Milk and soy milk kefirs may inhibit the growth of tumors. According to an animal study, which researchers from National Taiwan University
published in 2002 in Nutrition and Cancer, kefir activates the immune system to clean up cancer cells.
Study
The researchers injected cancer cells into the subcutaneous fat layers of their test animals. They used sarcoma cells. Sarcomas are not very common in humans.
The researchers then divided their test animals into 5 groups. A control group got nothing, the 4 experimental groups drank daily a portion of milk, soy milk, milk kefir and soy milk kefir.
The researchers made their kefirs themselves.
In this case, we're not entirely sure how to estimate the human equivalent of the administered dose. But we think that, if the mice had been adult humans, they would have drunk to two glasses of milk, soy milk, milk kefir or soy milk kefir daily.
Results
Milk accelerated the growth of the tumors, soy milk inhibited it. The very best tumor growth inhibitors were milk and soy milk kefir, the researchers discovered. Those two foods reduced growth by 65 and 71 percent respectively.
When the researchers studied the tumors under the microscope, they found a large number of dead cells in the sarcomas of the animals that had received kefirs. This suggests that the kefirs had activated the immune system to combat the cancer cells, the researchers think.
In the intestines of the mice that had received kefir, the researchers found more of the antibody IgA than in the other animals. This indicates that kefir activated the immune system in the gut, thus reducing the chance of infection via that route.
Conclusion
"We found that orally administered milk and soy milk kefirs not only inhibited tumor growth and induced the apoptotic form of tumor cell lysis, it also increased the total IgA levels in tissue extracts from the wall of the small intestine", write the researchers.
"These results suggest that milk and soy milk kefirs may be considered among the more-promising food components in terms of cancer prevention and enhancement of mucosal resistance to gastrointestinal infections."
Source:
Nutr Cancer. 2002;44(2):183-7.
More:
A glass of kefir per day increases muscle strength and endurance (7-9-2018)
Archives:
Cancer Prevention & Survival
Probiotics
|
|
