First trial to prove a diet supplement can prevent hereditary cancer
A trial in people with high hereditary risk of a wide range of cancers has shown a major preventive effect from resistant starch, found in a range of foods such as oats and slightly green bananas.
27 July 2022
It can also be found in breakfast cereal, cooked and cooled pasta and rice, peas and beans.
An international trial - known as CAPP2 – involved almost 1000 patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fibre, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half. This effect was particularly pronounced for upper gastrointestinal cancers including oesophageal, gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic and duodenum cancers.
The astonishing effect was seen to last for 10 years after stopping taking the supplement.
The study, led by experts at the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, published on 26th July 2022 in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, is a planned double blind 10 year follow–up, supplemented with comprehensive national cancer registry data for up to 20 years in 369 of the participants.
Read the full press release here .