Dietary Supplements Good for Prostate Health?

ROYAL OAK, Mich.Researchers at William Beaumont Hospital found the use of prostate-specific dietary supplements should be discouraged during radiotherapy owing to the preferential radiosensitization of normal prostate cells (Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys.2010;76(3):896-904). The study noted prostate-specific health products (dietary supplements) are taken by cancer patients to alleviate the symptoms linked with poor prostate health, but their effect on evidence-based radiotherapy practice is not well understood.

Three well-known prostate-specific dietary supplements were purchased from commercial sources available to patients (Trinovin, Provelex and Prostate Rx). The cells used in the study included normal prostate lines (RWPE-1 and PWR-1E), prostate tumor lines (PC3, DU145, and LNCaP) and a normal nonprostate line (HaCaT).

The cell growth and radiosensitivity of the malignant PC3, DU145 and LNcaP cells were not affected by any of the dietary prostate supplements; however, both Trinovin (10g/mL) and Prostate Rx (6g/mL) inhibited the growth rate of the normal prostate cell lines. Prostate Rx increased cellular radiosensitivity of RWPE-1 cells through the inhibition of DNA repair.