Inhibition of dibenzo [a,l]pyrene-induced multi-organ Carcinogenesis by dietary chlorophyllin in rainbow trout.
Reddy, AP., Harttig, U., Barth, MC., Baird, WM., Schimerlik, M., Hendricks, JD., and Bailey, GS., Molecular Epidemiology and Cancer Prevention, 1999
Background: Previous studies had established that eating a diet high in fruits and green vegetables can protect against some forms of cancer. These researchers used a water-soluble derivative of plant chlorophyll (chlorophyllin) to determine if this was the “active” component from plants which was protective. They used a rainbow trout animal model where tumors in a number of trout organs were induced by the cancer-causing chemical, dibenzo[α,l]pyrene.
Laboratory Studies: Rainbow trout were fed with a control diet, a control diet plus dibenzo[α,l]pyrene or a control diet with both dibenzo[α,l]pyrene and chlorophyllin. The trout were treated for two weeks, after which they went back to a control diet alone, with no added chemicals or chlorophyllin. Lab studies were also performed on the trout DNA to determine if the DNA structure had been altered.
Conclusion: Of the trout that had been fed the control diet plus the carcinogen, 11 months later, 61% had liver tumors, 91% had stomach tumors and 53% had tumors in the swimbladders. Of the trout who had been fed the control diet plus the carcinogen plus the chlorophyllin, only 18% had liver tumors, 34% had stomach tumors and 3% had swimbladder tumors. In addition, the study found that the carcinogen had combined with the trout DNA in the form of adducts—this adduct formation was decreased by 89% and 76% in two separate studies in the fish that had been given chlorophyllin, indicating that the chlorophyllin’s ability to protect against tumors was potentially related to preventing DNA-adduct formation.