Sweet route to heading off colon cancer.In recent years, a host of studies have identified a broad spectrum of medical attributes in honey -- including antifungal, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative, and cancer-drug-potentiating properties. Now, researchers at the American Health Foundation in Valhalla, N.Y., have uncovered another. In the Sept. 15 CANCER RESEARCH, Bandaru S. Reddy and his co-workers describe the ability of honey-derived caffeic esters to inhibit the development of precancerous precancerous /pre·can·cer·ous/ (-kan´ser-us) pertaining to a pathologic process that tends to become malignant. pre·can·cer·ous adj. changes in the colon of rats given a known carcinogen carcinogen: see cancer. carcinogen Agent that can cause cancer. Exposure to one or more carcinogens, including certain chemicals, radiation, and certain viruses, can initiate cancer under conditions not completely understood. . These esters come from the propolis propolis (präˑ·p  ·l -- the brown, resinous, tree-derived material that honeybees use to cement together their hives hives (urticaria), rash consisting of blotches or localized swellings (wheals) of the skin, caused by an allergic reaction (see allergy). The swelling is caused by distention of the skin capillaries and escape of serum and white cells into the skin and tissues. . Reddy's group considers three derivatives of the caffeic esters promising enough to use in longer-term animal studies of colon cancer.
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