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| |  Artichoke Family Shows Promise in Preventing Skin Cancer CLEVELAND, April 16, 1997 -- via Individual Inc. -- Researchers have found that a nutritional component contained in artichokes can prevent skin cancers that are caused by repeated exposure to ultraviolet rays. But the component isn't eaten; it's rubbed on skin surfaces. The findings are published in this month's issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Vol. 89, No. 8, April 16, 1997. The research was done by physicians and researchers at University Hospitals of Cleveland and Case Western Reserve University. The component is silymarin, a compound isolated from the milk thistle plant. The artichoke is one of the members of this plant family. The study compared the incidence and number of tumors in mice that received topical applications of silymarin before being exposed to UVB radiation, to mice that were exposed to UVB radiation but not treated with silymarin. The results were stunning: Only 25% of the silymarin-treated mice developed tumors compared to 100% of the control group mice. Almost one million new cases of basal cell and squamous cell skin cancer, forms of nonmelanoma, are diagnosed each year in the United States. Nonmelanoma skin cancer, although usually curable when caught early, can be deadly. Because the incidence is increasing at an alarming rate, doctors have focused on ways to prevent the harmful effects of excessive sun exposure. These include limiting outdoor activities, wearing protective clothing when in the sun, and using sunscreens on skin surfaces likely to be exposed. The use of silymarin is a strategy called chemoprevention, a means of cancer control with one or more chemical agents, including green tea, omega-3 fatty acid sources and vitamin E. With the results of these studies, silymarin shows great promise as protection against skin cancers caused by too much exposure to the sun. The next step is to study silymarin's effect on humans.
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