CLA and Cancer When I sent you the recent e-Alert "Beef 'n' Butter" (4/20/04), I told you I would keep an eye out for further studies of the remarkable fatty acid called conjugated linoleic acid (CLA). And I found one. But it's not in a medical journal, it's in the The Coopers Town Crier - the local newspaper of Cooperstown, New York. Erin Dauchy, a senior at Cooperstown High School, recently won first place in the Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS) for a study she conducted to test CLA on breast cancer tumors. The manager of the Laboratory of Chrononeuroendrocrine Oncology at the Bassett Healthcare Research Institute told the Coopers Town Crier that Ms. Dauchy's study, "demonstrated for the first time in human breast tumors in vivo, that specific isomers of conjugated linoleic acid… dramatically inhibited tumor growth and metabolism." And that assessment was probably spoken with some amount of pride, because it comes from Robert Dauchy, Erin's father. Since winning the JSHS competition, Erin's write up of her study has been accepted for publication in the journal Cancer Letters. She also presented her research at the recent annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research. Erin describes her study as the "first work of its kind" conducted on a type of tumor that's proven unresponsive to treatment. Unresponsive so far, anyway. Erin told the Crier that she'd like to see her preliminary work followed up with a clinical trial. Here's hoping it is, with many more to follow. What we need is a whole generation of young researchers like Erin who will explore natural ways to treat cancer and other diseases. To Your Good Health, Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute Sources:
"Dauchy's Cancer Research a Winner" Kelly Bruni, The Coopers Town Crier, 4/8/04, coopercrier.com | 
