Colorectal Cancer News

Foods Interfere with Colon Cancer Drugs

A drug combination that has been found to lower the risk of colon polyps may only work in people who consume minimal amounts of foods like red meat, corn and orange juice, according to a new study.

Two years ago, researchers found that a combination of the arthritis drug sulindac and the targeted cancer agent DMFO lowered the risk of these polyps. The same team has recently found that the effect may be limited to people who do not consume food with high levels of polyamines -- chemicals in food that are linked to increase risks of colon cancer.

The researchers found that compared with participants who had the lowest intake of polyamines, people with the highest consumption had larger and more advanced polyps with a greater chance of evolving into colon cancer.

One researcher says too much polyamine is decreasing the effect of the drug combination seen in the original study.

References:
Laino, Charlene. Foods Interfere With Colon Cancer Drugs. WebMD. 2010 Jan 25.

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