A new study from the Department of Urology at Columbia University suggests that Zyflamend, an herbal COX-2 inhibiting formulation, strongly suppresses the proliferation of human LNCaP prostate cancer cells and induces a process called apoptosis, a desirable self-destruction of those cancer cells.

The study, entitled "Zyflamend, an Herbal COX-2 Inhibitor with In Vitro Anti-Prostate Cancer Activity," will be presented at the December 13 meeting of the Society of Urologic Oncology at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. This meeting is co-sponsored by the National Cancer Institute.

According to researchers, Zyflamend's effects were found to be significantly more potent than a compound in the spice turmeric called curcumin, which is believed by many researchers to be one of the most promising molecules for the prevention and treatment of cancer. Compared to Zyflamend, curcumin exhibited no COX-2 inhibiting effect on its own, suggesting that there is something in the complexity of the whole-plant formulation that is responsible for its pronounced anti-inflammatory effect. Zyflamend was found to be almost equivalent in its COX-2 inhibiting activity to the pharmaceutical selective COX-2 inhibitor NS-398.

"This study on Zyflamend is exceptionally promising. This is the first known natural blend of botanicals that is showing COX-2 inhibitory activity," said Aaron Katz, Director of the Center for Holistic Urology at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center. Dr. Katz is the lead researcher on the Zyflamend study to be presented at the NCI Urologic Oncology conference. "Our research is on-going and will proceed to clinical trials on Zyflamend's efficacy for prevention and treatment of prostate cancer. By the age of seventy, over seventy percent of men in the U.S. will develop prostate cancer, and men today face treatment options which may have potential side-effects. The need for effective natural therapy has never been greater."

Zyflamend, formulated by New Chapter Inc, contains ten potency-assured and broad spectrum extracts of COX-2 inhibiting herbs -- turmeric, ginger, holy basil, green tea, hu zhang, Chinese goldthread, barberry, oregano, rosemary and Scutellaria baicalensis. Zyflamend utilizes supercritical extraction, an innovative technology for extracting herbs at low temperature without the use of industrial chemical solvents. The delicate, volatile, and potentially active constituents of the herbs are thus left undisturbed. The supercritical extraction of Zyflamend is done in a pharmaceutical-grade laboratory in Germany operating in compliance with strict government standards.