Inositol Hexaphosphate (IP6) - Anti-Cancer and treatment for free radical damage and prevention - IP6 Inositol hexaphosphate Supports Natural Cell Defense - Effective treatment for kidney stones, high cholesterol and high blood lipids

IP6 contains 500 mg of purified Inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) from brown rice extracted in Japan. IP6 is a phosphorylated form of Inositol commonly found in fiber-rich plant foods. IP6 is hydrolyzed by phytase enzymes in the digestive tract to yield inositol. IP6 supports natural cell defense against damaging hydroxyl free radicals by chelating with reactive iron.

"This new cancer-fighter derived from fiber may also prove to be medicine for the new millennium."

The Facts

• IP6 goes by the chemical name inositol hexaphosphate.
• IP6 is basically a sugar molecule with phosphate groups attached.
• IP6 has been shown to inhibit various cancers in humans and animals.
• IP6 has been shown to be an effective treatment for kidney stones, high cholesterol and high blood lipids.
• Much of the scientific support for IP6 is derived from the research of noted scientists Abulkalam Shamsuddin, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine.
• Foods that contain significant amounts of IP6 include: soybeans, rice, sesame, beans, legumes, corn and cereals.
• IP6 will soon be available over the counter.
• IP6 has no known toxic effects.

     Research has long been espousing the benefits of soy in fighting cancer. Only recently, however, are we beginning to understand exactly why. Scientists have isolated a laundry list of soy constituents that suppress carcinogenesis including the Bowman-Birk inhibitor, beta sitosterol, and now, inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) or phytic acid.

Currently, there are a growing number of studies that support IP6's cancer-fighting properties. Additionally, IP6 has been shown to have potent antioxidant properties and to help treat kidney stones as well as high cholesterol and lipid levels.

What is it, and How Does it Work?

IP6, a ubiquitous substance found in virtually all mammals, is composed of the sugar inositol with six phosphate groups attached to it.

It is also an important component of cereals and legumes and may be the active ingredient in fiber that is anti-carcinogenic. The typical American diet is low in dietary fiber and relatively high in fat. It is not clear if the increased incidence of cancer is due to high fat intake, low fiber or both. Finland is one country in which the people tend to consume both a high-fat and high-fiber diet, and the risk of dying from breast cancer in Finnish women is lower than American women. Thus, it would seem that eating lots of fiber may be critical to preventing cancer.

What We Know Now

A study done by scientists at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore examined whether a high-fiber diet reduced the amount of tumor cells in rats. Rats were divided into five groups and fed a diet that contained 0 percent, 5 percent, 10 percent or 20 percent Kellogg's All-Bran cereal; a fifth group received .4 percent IP6 in their drinking water; and amount equal to 20 percent bran. After 29 weeks, they found that in the 5 to 20 percent bran cereal groups, tumor incidence decreased 11 to 17 percent. Oddly enough, the rats that ate the least amount of bran had a lower tumor incidence than the group that ate the most bran. So from this, researchers could at least conclude that there was not a dose-response inhibition of the high-bran diet. This means that we may not need to stuff ourselves full of bran cereal in the morning in order to get the health benefits.

But what if we drank the IP6? Rats that were given IP6 in their water had an even lower incidence of tumor formation. In fact, drinking IP6 seemed to work twice as well as eating the high-bran foods.

IP6 has been introduced by mouth, by injection directly into tumors, intramuscular injection, intraperitoneal injection, etc. And regardless of how IP6 was given, it consistently had the same effects, whether it was tested on a colon-cancer model, a breast-cancer model, smooth-muscle cells, skeletal muscle tumors, liver cancers, etc.

In addition to animal studies, there are several human studies that have shown that IP6 inhibits growth of human prostate cancer cells and adenocarcinoma. Scientists have observed that cancer cells can revert back to normal cells in the presence of IP6. It should be pointed out that most of the research has been done with animals; in order for IP6 to gain greater support by the medical community, more human trials are needed.

INOSITOL HEXAPHOSPHATE SHOWN TO SHRINK CANCER TUMORS

In a study of human liver cancer cells treated with inositol hexaphosphate (IP6) and transplanted into mice, Abulkalam M. Shamsuddin, MD, PhD, professor of pathology at the University of Maryland, and colleagues found that IP6 slowed or stopped the growth of liver cancer cells and shrank existing tumors three- to four-fold. The Maryland researchers report on their findings at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting in New Orleans on Monday, March 30, 2000.

"IP6 does not kill cancer cells; it tames them and makes them behave like normal cells," says Shamsuddin. His research has focused on the cancer-fighting properties of the sugar-based compound for more than a decade.

Inositol hexaphosphate is a sugar molecule attached to six phosphate molecules. It is found throughout nature, in wheat and rice bran, legumes such as soybeans, and virtually every kind of mammalian cell. It plays an important role in regulating vital cellular functions, including cell proliferation and differentiation. IP6 decreases proliferation of cancer cells and causes them to differentiate, often reverting to the size, shape and structure of normal cells, Shamsuddin reports. "IP6 has striking anticancer action, both in vitro (in a test tube) and in vivo (in live animals)," he says. In the human liver cancer cell study, Shamsuddin's team treated human hepatocellular carcinoma cells with varying doses of pure IP6. The result was partial to complete inhibition of cell growth and proliferation, depending on the dose. Treated cells transplanted into mice produced no tumors over the 41 days of the experiment, while 71 percent of mice receiving untreated cancer cells developed tumors. Mice that developed tumors from the human cancer-cell line were injected with IP6 for 12 consecutive days. After the last treatment, their tumors weighed three- to four-fold less than they had before the injections, Shamsuddin reports.

IP6 has moved in and out of medical favor ever since its discovery. Its antioxidant properties sparked excitement, followed by concern that IP6 binds tightly with important minerals such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and zinc, preventing the body from absorbing them properly. Recent studies have shown that concern to be unfounded, says Shamsuddin.

It is true that IP6, when consumed, combines with various proteins and other large molecules to form insoluble compounds which are not readily absorbed or metabolized, the researcher notes. For that reason, adding IP6 to the diet would be less effective than giving it in a pure form, dissolved in water and either drunk or injected, the researcher says.

"Although IP6 is the substance responsible for cereal's anticancer effects, intake of pure IP6 may be a more practical approach than gorging on enormous quantities of dietary fiber to prevent cancer," he remarks.

Shamsuddin also has tested IP6 on colon, lung, breast and prostate cancer cells, on leukemias, fibrosarcomas and muscle cell cancers in children.

"IP6 has a potential for use as a novel preventive measure and treatment for a variety of cancers," Shamsuddin suggests. It also holds promise for prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease, kidney stones and possibly even immune-system disorders like AIDS, he says.

Shamsuddin's research was supported in part by the American Institute for Cancer Research. Here is a summary of recent findings on IP6 Research published in The American Journal of Nutrition

Suggested Use:  Take 2 Vegicaps per day, once in the morning and once before bedtime. Best taken on an empty stomach.

Ingredients: Inositol Hexaphosphate , 500 mg

Other Ingredients: Vegetable Capsule, Stabilized Rice Bran, Magnesium Stearate

Note: this product contains no fillers or additives