Food Therapy - Avocado and Breast cancer

Avocados are a commercially valuable fruit and are cultivated in tropical climates throughout the world, it is a green-skinned, pear-shaped fruit that ripens after harvesting and native to the Caribbean, Mexico, South America and Central America, belonging to the flowering plant family Lauraceae.
Nutrients
1. Vitamin K
2. Dietary fiber
3. Vitamin B6
4. Vitamin C
5. Folate
6. Copper
7. Potassium
8. Amino acid
9. Others
a) Vitamin A
b) Vitamin B1, B2, B3, B12
c) Vitamin D
d) Vitamin E
e) Carotenoid
f) Pantothenic acid
g) Calcium
h) Chromium
Chemical constituents
The fruit contains campesterol, high amounts of β-sitosterol (average 76.4 mg/100 g); fatty acids (approximately 60% monounsaturated, 20% saturated, and 20% unsaturated); high amounts of glutathione (27.7 mg/100 g); approximately 2% protein; 6–9% carbohydrates and sugars (glucose, fructose, d-mannoheptulose, a taloheptulose, and an alloheptulose); two bitter substances (1-acetoxy-2,4-dihydroxyheptadeca-16-ene and 1,2,4-trihydroxyheptadeca-16-ene); carnitine; proanthocyanidins; persenones A and B(a).

Persin, the toxin chemical compound found in the fruits and leaves of avocado showed to inhubut huamn breast cancer cell line, in the testing of synthetic analogues of the avocado-produced toxin persin(1). In support to the above, researchers at the Gavan institution, suggested that persin could be given together with commonly used breast cancer drugs like tamoxifen, which seem to act in a different way, patients would benefit by needing smaller amounts of each type of medicine. Indeed, in the laboratory, persin and tamoxifen look to be a good combination(2). Other member of Persea, Persea declinata (Bl.) Kosterm is a member from the same genus with avocado, in  the Lauraceae family, widely distributed in Southeast Asia, in the testing against MCF-7 Cells showed that its bark methanolic crude extract (PDM) inhibit cell cycle arrest and subsquently induced apoptosis through increased the expression of the proapoptotic molecule, Bax(pro-apoptosis), but decreased the expression of prosurvival proteins, Bcl-2 (pro-apoptotic oranti-apoptotic) and Bcl-xL(pro- and anti-survival protein) in a dose-dependent manner(3).

Side effects1. Skin product of avocado oils may contain latex which can cause skin side effect in certain people with hypersensitivity to latex, leading to symptoms of reddening of the skin, itching, hives, or eczema.
2. Liver damage
Certain types of avocado may cause liver damage as a result of collagen accumulation in the liver
3. Breastfeeding
Some types of Avocado may be unsafe during breastfeeding as it can cause problems of upset stomachs in babies.
4. Drugs
Avocado may decrease the effect of "blood thinning" or anti-inflammatory medications.
5. It may cause symptoms of gastrointestinal irritation, vomiting, diarrhoea, respiratory distress, congestion, fluid accumulation due to toxic fatty acid derivative, Persin.
6. Etc.

Back to Most common Types of Cancer http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca/p/blog-page.html

Back to Kyle J. Norton Home page http://kylejnorton.blogspot.ca
References
(a) Leung's Encyclopedia of Natural Ingredients:Chemical Composition of Avocado
(1) Synthesis and in vitro evaluation of analogues of avocado-produced toxin (+)-(R)-persin in human breast cancer cells by Brooke DG¹, Shelley EJ, Roberts CG, Denny WA, Sutherland RL, Butt AJ.(PubMed)
(2) Persin - the avocado toxin that kills breast cancer cells(Gavan Institution)
(3) Persea declinata (Bl.) Kosterm Bark Crude Extract Induces Apoptosis in MCF-7 Cells via G0/G1 Cell Cycle Arrest, Bcl-2/Bax/Bcl-xl Signaling Pathways, and ROS Generation by Narrima P¹, Paydar M¹, Looi CY¹, Wong YL¹, Taha H², Wong WF³, Ali Mohd M¹, Hadi AH(PubMed)