Can Pomegranate Pills Fight Prostate Cancer? Feb. 17, 2011 (Orlando, Fla.) -- Taking a pomegranate pill a day may help slow the progression of prostate cancer, preliminary research suggests.

The study is the latest to demonstrate pomegranate's promising antitumor effects, says study head Michael Carducci, MD, professor of oncology and urology at Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes.

In 2009, other researchers reported that pomegranate juice may also prevent prostate cancer from getting worse.

The new study involved 92 men with cancer that had not spread beyond the prostate and rising PSA levels. Rising levels of PSA (prostate-specific antigen) are a sign that prostate cancer may be getting worse.

The men took either one capsule containing 1 gram of pomegranate extract or three pomegranate capsules daily.

At the start of the study, the men's PSA levels were doubling every 12 months. After six months of taking the capsules, it took 19 months for their PSA levels to double.

"The results were similar regardless of whether the men took one capsule or three," Carducci tells WebMD.

However, men who took three pills daily were more likely to suffer mild to moderate diarrhea: 14% vs. 2% of those who took one pill.

Carducci credits antioxidants in the pomegranate for its anticancer effect.

The study was presented at the Genitourinary Cancers Symposium.

A Visual Guide to Prostate Cancer