'Rice bran can reduce incidence of cancer'

Clinical trial at the University of Colorado is testing the effectiveness of rice bran in preventing the recurrence of colon cancer.

"While I have been trained as a molecular toxicologist, I am excited about the opportunities to deliver bioactive, cancer fighting compounds with food, and this has led to my focus now primarily on the multiple drug-like characteristics of rice bran," said Dr Elizabeth P Ryan, CU Cancer Center investigator.

"There's a delicate balance of bioactive components in rice bran that together show anti-cancer activity including the ability to inhibit cell proliferation, alter cell cycle progression and initiate the programmed cell death known as apoptosis in malignant cells," Ryan said.

Ryan and colleagues show that bioactive rice bran derived small molecules include, but are not limited to polyphenolics, ferulic acid, tricin,