The 104th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Urological Association, held April 25-30, 2009 in Chicago, was the site of a presentation concerning the results of a clinical trial which found that pomegranate juice retarded the progression of prostate cancer that recurred following treatment.

The trial, which was reported in the April, 2009 supplement to the Journal of Urology, included 48 patients who experienced rising levels of prostate specific antigen (PSA) a marker of prostate cancer, following surgery and/or radiotherapy for prostate cancer. Beginning in 2003, subjects drank 8 ounces of pomegranate juice per day for up to 6 years. Follow-up examinations conducted every 3 months ascertained PSA levels and other data.

Interim results published in 2006 in the journal Clinical Cancer Research, revealed an increase in the length of time it took for PSA levels to double when PSA doubling times at the beginning of the study were compared with those following treatment. The current research found that patients who elected to remain in the study experienced significantly increased time to PSA doubling and a greater decline in median PSA slope, indicating slower progression of the disease, when compared with those who did not continue treatment.

In a third phase of the trial, the effects of pomegranate juice are being compared with a placebo in a multicenter, randomized trial.
"This study suggests that pomegranate juice may effectively slow the progression of prostate cancer after unsuccessful treatment," said Christopher Amling, MD, who is a spokesman for the American Urological Association. "This finding and other ongoing research might one day reveal that pomegranate juice is an effective prostate cancer preventative agent as well."

 

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