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   MEDICAL ABSTRACTS
   
     * Antioxidant functions of phytic acid.
     * Dietary suppression of colonic cancer. Fiber or phytate?
     * Phytic acid in health and disease.
     * Phytic acid and minerals: effect on early markers of risk for
       mammary and colon carcinogenesis. 
       
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   MEDICAL ABSTRACTS
   
   Antioxidant functions of phytic acid.
   Graf E, Eaton JW
   Pillsbury Company, Technology Center, Minneapolis, MN 55414.
   Free Radic Biol Med 1990;8(1):61-9
   
   Phytic acid is a natural plant antioxidant constituting 1-5% of most
   cereals, nuts, legumes, oil seeds, pollen and spores. By virtue of
   forming a unique iron chelate it suppresses iron-catalyzed oxidative
   reactions and may serve a potent antioxidant function in the
   preservation of seeds. By the same mechanism dietary phytic acid may
   lower the incidence of colonic cancer and protect against other
   inflammatory bowel diseases. Its addition to foods inhibits lipid
   peroxidation and concomitant oxidative spoilage, such as
   discoloration, putrefaction, and syneresis. A multitude of other
   industrial applications are based on the antioxidant function of
   phytic acid. 
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   Dietary suppression of colonic cancer. Fiber or phytate?
   Graf E, Eaton JW
   Cancer 1985 Aug 15;56(4):717-8
   
   The incidence of colonic cancer differs widely between various human
   populations. It has been suggested that dietary fiber content is of
   utmost importance and is inversely related to the occurrence of
   colonic cancer. However, high-fiber diets are not always correlated
   with low frequency of colonic cancer, suggesting the involvement of
   additional dietary constituents. Inositol hexaphosphate (phytic acid)
   is an abundant plant seed component present in many, but not all,
   fiber-rich diets. The authors have found that phytic acid is a potent
   inhibitor of iron-mediated generation of the hazardous oxidant,
   hydroxyl radical. Herein, the authors propose that inhibition of
   intracolonic hydroxyl radical generation, via the chelation of
   reactive iron by phytic acid, may help explain the suppression of
   colonic carcinogenesis and other inflammatory bowel diseases by diets
   rich in phytic acid. 
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   Phytic acid in health and disease.
   Zhou JR, Erdman JW Jr.
   Division of Nutritional Sciences, University of Illinois, Urbana
   61801, USA.
   Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 1995 Nov;35(6):495-508
   
   Phytic acid (PA), a major phosphorus storage compound of most seeds
   and cereal grains, contributes about 1 to 7% of their dry weight. It
   may account for more than 70% of the total kernel phosphorus. PA has
   the strong ability to chelate multivalent metal ions, especially zinc,
   calcium, and iron. The binding can result in very insoluble salts that
   are poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract, which results in
   poor bioavailability (BV) of minerals. Alternatively, the ability of
   PA to chelate minerals has been reported to have some protective
   effects, such as decreasing iron-mediated colon cancer risk and
   lowering serum cholesterol and triglycerides in experimental animals.
   Data from human studies are still lacking. PA is also considered to be
   a natural antioxidant and is suggested to have potential functions of
   reducing lipid peroxidation and as a preservative in foods. Finally,
   certain inositol phosphates, which may be derived from PA, have been
   noted to have a function in second messenger transduction systems. The
   potential nutritional significance of PA is discussed in this review.
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   Phytic acid and minerals: effect on early markers of risk for mammary
   and colon carcinogenesis.
   Thompson LU, Zhang L
   Department of Nutritional Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of
   Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
   Carcinogenesis 1991 Nov;12(11):2041-5
   
   This study determined the effect of inositol hexaphosphate or phytic
   acid (PA; 1.2%), Ca (1.5%) and Fe (535 p.p.m.) alone, and PA in
   combination with Ca or Fe in a high-fat diet (25%) on the labeling
   (LI) and mitotic (MI) cell proliferation indices, nuclear aberration
   (NA) and intraductal proliferation (IDP) in the mammary gland, as well
   as the LI in colonic epithelial cells. Diet supplementation with PA
   alone caused reductions (P less than 0.05) in the colon LI by 18%, and
   in the LI and NA in the total mammary gland structures of mice by 29
   and 30% respectively. Supplementation with Fe or particularly Ca
   caused increases in the colon LI and in the mammary LI, MI, NA and IDP
   but these were reduced by 25-53% (P less than 0.05) in the presence of
   PA. These results support the hypothesis that PA may reduce the risk
   for both colon and mammary cancer and its effect is related to its
   mineral binding ability. Furthermore, significant relationships (P
   less than 0.01) were observed between the LI and MI or NA in the total
   structures of the mammary gland. The number of IDPs also related (P
   less than 0.05) to LI or NA in the terminal end bud structure of the
   mammary gland, suggesting that highly proliferating mammary cells,
   particularly in the terminal end bud structure, are of greater risk
   for nuclear damage and development to IDP. A significant relationship
   (P less than 0.01) was observed between the cell proliferation in the
   mammary gland and that in the colon, indicating that both tissues can
   be influenced similarly by dietary constituents. 
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