Is garlic a promising food for benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostate cancer?

Abstract

Prostate cancer is one of the most common male malignancies worldwide, and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is a common cause of lower urinary tract symptoms in elderly men. Garlic (Allium sativum) has been known to have anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and antioxidant effects. Owing to these effects, garlic and its preparations have been used for the treatment of prostate cancer and relief of BPH symptoms for decades. It is thought that the mechanism(s) through which garlic may show anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory effects should be investigated further. Several researchers are attempting to demonstrate the useful properties of garlic and its mechanism(s) of action. This review aims to present the current studies related with the effects of garlic in prostate diseases, namely prostate cancer and BPH.

Allium sativum Protease Inhibitor: A Novel Kunitz Trypsin Inhibitor from Garlic Is a New Comrade of the Serpin Family

“…During last two decades, it was shown that garlic is endowed with antibiotic, antifungal [21] and antibacterial activities [22]. Current observations have substantiated that garlic may also be used against antiartherosclerosis, hypolipidemic [23–24] and anticarcinogenesis activities [25–26]. Moreover, several studies have shown garlic to be a potent immunomodulator.…”

Potential role of organic sulfur compounds from Allium species in cancer prevention and therapy

“…inhibition of platelet aggregation and vasodilatation (Agarwal 1996), that might also contribute to the antimetastatic activity (and cardiovascular effects) described for several garlic compounds (Ariga and Seki 2006;Hassan 2004;Devrim and Durak 2007;Howard et al 2007). Apart from the fact that diverse OSCs interact with different CYP450s, this effect is additionally dependent on the model, the dose and the scheme of application (Agarwal 1996;Herman-Antosiewicz and Singh 2004;Davenport and Wargovich 2005).…”

“…Sweden, Italy, USA, Japan) all reporting a reduced risk of stomach, esophageal and colorectal cancers (Shukla 2007). Less often garlic's efficacy against other tumors, such as prostate cancer or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), cancers of head, neck, breast, skin or lung, were elucidated (Devrim and Durak 2007;Fleischauer and Arab 2001;Garlic and 2008;Tilli et al 2003;Hsing et al 2002;Challier et al 1998), suggesting that effects are not restricted to topical applications, but also occur systemically. For example population based diet studies in England revealed a decreased risk of prostate cancer in elderly men caused by a high total fat intake when consuming garlic.…”

“…For example population based diet studies in England revealed a decreased risk of prostate cancer in elderly men caused by a high total fat intake when consuming garlic. This was indicated by an odds ratio of 0.65 of subjects (adapted by social class) ingesting garlic as a food to the ones consuming none (Devrim 2007). Additionally clinical trials could show an improvement of disease parameters of patients suffering from prostate cancer or BPH after treatment with aqueous garlic extracts (Devrim 2007).…”

“…Remarks: chemical structures according to Shukla and Kalra (2007), Davenport and Wargovich (2005) and Chen et al (2004); in order to facilitate inspection, exclusively selected reviews or experimental papers are indicated as references Phytochem Rev (2009) 8:349-368 351 revealed for pathophysiological imbalances often described to be linked with cancers, i.e. immune function, diabetes, blood pressure, blood glucose or lipid level, atherosclerosis, thrombosis, diverse infections and aging (Shukla and Kalra 2007;Wu et al 2005;Ngo et al 2007;Hassan 2004;Devrim and Durak 2007;Herman-Antosiewicz and Singh 2004). Pharmacological efficacy was especially evident, however, in cardiovascular diseases and in intestinal cancers considering population-based studies and clinical trials; accordingly, garlic is one of the plants recognised by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) of the UK as one of several vegetables with potential anticancer properties (http://www.cancer.gov/cancer topics/factsheet/Prevention/garlic-and-cancer-preven tion) (Ariga 2006).…”