Nutrition Research, Vol. 20, No. 11, pp. 1557-1567, 2000 Copyright © 2000 Elsevier Science Inc. Printed in the USA.  All rights reserved. 0271-5317/00/$---see front matter
PII: 0271-5317(00)00240-2

Effects Of The Coral Calcium As An Inhibitory Substance Against Colon Cancer And Its Metastasis In The Lungs

Introduction The number of people who die of cancer in Japan tends to increase, year by year. According to the Ministry of Health and Welfare in Japan, about 283,000 people in 1998 died of malignant neoplasm (cancer), ranking first in the number of deaths (1). The cause for onset of cancer is considered to be due to environmental influences and intake of various chemicals from dietary sources. It usually takes about 10 to 20 years until the onset of cancer, during which humans are subjected to various endocrine disrupters, so it is extremely difficult to understand the mechanism for the onset of cancer. Furthermore, it has been reported (2, 3, 4, and 5) that cancer cells, 107 - 109 per day are generally released into the blood of patients having cancer. In recent years, an attempt to clarify the mechanism for the generation of cancer has been made by a number of investigators using cancer cells and experimental animals. More recently, some effective nutrients or chemicals with prophylactic effects on the onset of cancer have been found from dietary sources, and a variety of investigations are in progress. Also from the perspective of nutrition, much focus is on calcium which is a mineral ingredient and one of the nutrients. It has been reported (6, 7, and 8) that calcium possibly exhibits prophylactic effects against the onset at cancer in the large intestine and stomach. In the present study, an inhibitory effect of Coral Calcium, being calcium-rich, against Colon 26 cancer cells was investigated in vitro and in vivo. Initially, we have paid much attention to the fact that, although the onset of cancer can be seen in the stomach, large intestine and rectum of the gastrointestinal tract, it is not observed in the small intestine (1). In healthy human subjects, the inner walls of the stomach, duodenum, large intestine and rectum show acidity of pH 3.0 – 6.0, whereas those of the small intestine exhibit weak alkalinity of pH 7.5. So, in the present in vitro study, the effect of pH value against Colon 26 Cancer cells was investigated; i.e., the survival (growth) rates of mouse Colon 26 cancer cells were observed in acidic culture media and weak alkaline culture media. In the subsequent study, the effect of Coral Calcium concentration against Colon 26 cancer cells was investigated using calcium carbonate as a control. In vivo study, the effects of Coral Calcium and calcium carbonate (control) against the Colon 26 cancer cells were compared using BALB/C mice (purchased from Japan Clea Strain) at the age of 7 weeks. The activity of the NK cells and the number of macrophages in the group to which Coral Calcium was administered were compared with those in the group to which calcium carbonate was administered. Furthermore, in vivo study, the effects of Coral Calcium concentrations against Colon 26 cancer cells were investigated in mice. An investigation was made on the prophylactic effects (i.e., as a cancer-inhibitory substance) of CoraI Calcium against the metastases of Colon 26 cancer cells in the lungs, with an evaluation of the activity of NK ceIIs and the number of macrophages.

Abstract   |   Introduction   |   Materials & Methods   |   Results & Discussion   |   References