Narrator:     This is Science Today. Drinking an eight-ounce glass of pomegranate juice on a daily basis can keep PSA levels stable in men with prostate cancer. According to a three-year UCLA Jonsson Cancer Center study of 50 men, pomegranate juice intake slowed down the progression or growth of prostate cancer by a factor of almost four. Dr. Allan Pantuck, an associate professor of urology, led the study.

Pantuck:     We look at the PSA doubling time, which is the time it takes for the cancer to progress or to get twice as large or twice as extensive. Thirty percent of the men on the study had some decrease of their PSA, but 83% had a slowing down of their doubling time.

Narrator:     Pantuck has now begun a multi-center, placebo study of the benefits of pomegranate juice.

Pantuck:     If it can slow down the progression slow enough, many people may be able to avoid going on to things like hormone therapies go on to avoid things like chemotherapies that have significant impact on quality of life. The best scenario would be that you could ultimately slow it down.

Narrator: For Science Today, I'm Larissa Branin.