Objective To study the effect of oral calcium supplementation on colonie crypt cell proliferation in patients with adenomatous polyps of the large bowel. Patients The study included 20 patients (polyp group); a further 10 patients with disease-free colons served as controls. Patients from the polyp group were randomly assigned to one of the two following groups: group 1 received 1 g calcium daily for 1 month and group 2 received 2 g calcium daily for 1 month. Methods Colonoscopic biopsies were performed before and after calcium supplementation. Cell proliferation was analysed using the monoclonal antibody to bromo-deoxyuridine technique. Results The mean number of labelled cells as a ratio of total crypt cells (Ll%) and their relative positions within the crypt were determined. Both calcium doses were found to reduce total Ll%. However, 2 g calcium appeared to reduce proliferation profiles to those seen in normal colonie crypts. Conclusion The findings of this study suggest that oral calcium may be a preventive treatment for those at risk of developing colorectal cancer.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
O’Sullivan et al. (1993) studied this question.