A trial in people with high hereditary risk of a wide range of cancers has shown a major preventive effect from resistant starch, found in a range of foods such as oats and slightly green bananas.

It can also be found in breakfast cereal, cooked and cooled pasta and rice, peas and beans.

An international trial – known as CAPP2 – involved almost 1000 patients with Lynch syndrome from around the world and revealed that a regular dose of resistant starch, also known as fermentable fibre, taken for an average of two years, did not affect cancers in the bowel but did reduce cancers in other parts of the body by more than half. This effect was particularly pronounced for upper gastrointestinal cancers including oesophageal, gastric, biliary tract, pancreatic and duodenum cancers.

The astonishing effect was seen to last for 10 years after stopping taking the supplement.

The study, led by experts at the Universities of Newcastle and Leeds, published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, is a planned double blind 10 year follow–up, supplemented with comprehensive national cancer registry data for up to 20 years in 369 of the participants.

Previous research published as part of the same trial, revealed that aspirin reduced cancer of the large bowel by 50%.

“We found that resistant starch reduces a range of cancers by over 60%. The effect was most obvious in the upper part of the gut,” explained Professor John Mathers, professor of Human Nutrition at Newcastle University. “This is important as cancers of the upper GI tract are difficult to diagnose and often are not caught early on.

“Resistant starch can be taken as a powder supplement and is found naturally in peas, beans, oats and other starchy foods. The dose used in the trial is equivalent to eating a daily banana; before they become too ripe and soft, the starch in bananas resists breakdown and reaches the bowel where it can change the type of bacteria that live there.

“Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate that isn’t digested in your small intestine, instead it ferments in your large intestine, feeding beneficial gut bacteria – it acts in effect, like dietary fibre in your digestive system. This type of starch has several health benefits and fewer calories than regular starch. We think that resistant starch may reduce cancer development by changing the bacterial metabolism of bile acids and to reduce those types of bile acids that can damage our DNA and eventually cause cancer. However, this needs further research.”

Professor Sir John Burn, from Newcastle University and Newcastle Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust who ran the trial with Professor Mathers, said: “When we started the studies over 20 years ago, we thought that people with a genetic predisposition to colon cancer could help us to test whether we could reduce the risk of cancer with either aspirin or resistant starch.

“Patients with Lynch syndrome are high risk as they are more likely to develop cancers so finding that aspirin can reduce the risk of large bowel cancers and resistant starch other cancers by half is vitally important.

“Based on our trial, NICE now recommend Aspirin for people at high genetic risk of cancer, the benefits are clear – aspirin and resistant starch work.”

Long term study

Between 1999 and 2005, nearly 1000 participants began either taking resistant starch in a powder form every day for two years or aspirin or a placebo – a powder which looked like resistant starch but was inactive.

At the end of the treatment stage, there was no overall difference between those who had taken resistant starch or aspirin and those who had not. However, the research team anticipated a longer-term effect and designed the study for further follow-up.

In the period of follow-up, there were just 5 new cases of upper GI cancers among the 463 participants who had taken the resistant starch compared with 21 among the 455 who were on the placebo.

Professor Tim Bishop, at the University of Leeds, who also ran the trial said “The results are exciting but the magnitude of the protective effect in the upper GI tract was unexpected so further research is required to replicate these findings.”

The team are now leading the international trial, CaPP3, with more than 1,800 people with Lynch syndrome enrolled to look at whether smaller, safer doses of aspirin can be used to help reduce the cancer risk.

The research is funded by Cancer Research UK, the European Commission, Medical Research Council and the National Institute for Health Research.

Source: Newcastle University

The “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser trailer nabbed 172 million views in its first 24 hours, becoming one of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s top trailer debuts for a superhero movie, a source close to Marvel confirmed the viewership number to Variety. The “Wakanda Forever” teaser’s viewership nearly doubled the 88 million views the original “Black Panther” teaser garnered in 2017.

The teaser also set social media ablaze, with topics relating to “Black Panther” garnering over 893,000 mentions. Chadwick Boseman, Namor, Shuri, T’Challa, Ryan Coogler and Angela Bassett all became national trending topics after the teaser’s debut, and the hashtag #WakandaForever held the No. 1 trending spot for over five consecutive hours.

By pulling in 172 million views in its first 24 hours, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” becomes one of the top trailer launches for a standalone Marvel movie following titles like the “Spider-Man: No Way Home” teaser (the biggest ever with 355.5 million views) and the “Thor: Love and Thunder” teaser (209 million views). Four “Avengers” trailers also pulled in bigger numbers: “Avengers: Endgame” teaser (289 million), “Avengers: Endgame” final trailer (268 million), “Avengers: Infinity War” teaser (230 million) and “Avengers: Infinity War” final trailer (179 million).

It should be noted that unlike many of these aforementioned Marvel movies, the “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” teaser launched on a Saturday night at around 9:20pm ET. That’s not exactly the most desired time slot for a trailer debut, as most trailers release weekday mornings and take advantage of the workday re-watch factor.

The teaser marked the first unveiling of the “Black Panther” sequel, which marks the next feature film entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The footage showcases the nation of Wakanda going to war against an army of Atlanteans, led by the fearful Namor (Tenoch Huerta). Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Danai Gurira, Florence Kasumba Winston Duke and Angela Bassett are reprising their roles from the original “Black Panther,” joined by series newcomer Michaela Coel, Dominique Thorne, Alex Nivilani and Mabel Cadena.

Riding off the success of the teaser release, Hollywood Records and Marvel Music released a prologue soundtrack for the movie earlier Monday. The soundtrack includes Tems’ cover of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry,” which earned acclaim for its prominent feature in the teaser trailer.

Before the teaser was shown to the Hall H crowd at Comic-Con, director Ryan Coogler and several members of the film’s ensemble took the stage to introduce the film and discuss the legacy of the late Chadwick Boseman, who led the original 2018 “Black Panther” before he died in 2020 after a private battle with colon cancer.

“It’s going to be hard to follow that up, but we’ll try,” Coogler told the crowd.

“Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” will hit theaters on Nov. 11.

Watch the teaser below.

Presenting the most awaited Vijay Deverakonda & Puri Jagannadh’s #Liger Trailer

The film features Vijay Deverakonda, Mike Tyson, Ananya Panday in lead roles.
Direction, dialogues & screenplay by Puri Jagannadh
Produced by Karan Johar, Charmme Kaur, Apoorva Mehta & Hiroo Yash Johar under Puri Connects and Dharma Productions.