Phytosterols?

chocomousse

Is anyone taking phytosterols to shrink tumors or prevent reoccurence? I read the info. below about them. I hate swallowing pills and the only gummy phytosterols I've come across are marketed to reduce cholesterol levels. Two CholesterWell gummies gives you 400mg's of phytosterols, just wish I knew the composition as some phytosterols are better than others for certain types of cancers.

Effect of PS on tissue esterogenic properties.

Because estrogen receptors play a role in the development of sex organ tumors, estrogenic properties of PS were assessed. It has been shown that fish develop infertility when exposed to high levels of wood pulp, which is rich in SIT, in the water (37). However, studies in mammals such as rats using plant sterols or stanols did not demonstrate any estrogenic effect in vivo or in vitro (38). These studies showed that PS do not bind to estrogen receptors and do not affect uterine wet weight of immature rats. Furthermore, PS did not stimulate transcriptional activity of human estrogen receptors in yeast (39). Free or esterified stanols at high levels (100 μmmol/L) did not stimulate the growth of estrogen-responsive MCF-7 cells in culture nor increase uterine wet weight of rats when fed at 8.3% in the diet for 4 d (39). Accordingly, the reported results on fish could be due to other components in wood pulp.

Effect of PS on apoptosis.

The rate of tumor growth is dependent upon a balance between the rates of cell proliferation and apoptosis. Apoptosis or programmed cell death, as influenced by PS, has been investigated in two tumor cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and LNCaP cells (34, ,35). In both cell lines, 16 μmol/L SIT was found to stimulate apoptosis by four- to sixfold above control levels after 3–5 d of treatment (34, ,35). Apoptosis was assessed by measuring the release of nucleosomes into the cytoplasm. SIT treatment elevated PP2A activity only in the LNCaP line (35). This suggests that activation of PP2A may not be a unified mechanism for the action of SIT on apoptosis. The mechanism by which SIT stimulates apoptosis requires further investigation.