Drug Delivery
Pectin's gel-like consistency makes it a useful agent for the delivery of cancer drugs
Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.
The December 2010 issue of Biomacromolecules reports that an oxidized type of pectin has been shown to form a gel and retain the anticancer drug within the area of the tumor, allowing the drug to have greater effectiveness than it would have if it were allowed to disperse.
Other research has shown that pectin is suitable for use as a colon-specific drug delivery vehicle in the treatment of colon cancer and other colon diseases because it is selectively digested by microflora in the colon, and exhibits the potential to prevent colon cancer from the implication of diet I. Since it is a soluble dietary fiber, pectin reportedly increases the transit time through the gastrointestinal tract, fecal bulk, bile acid excretion and short-chain fatty acid production. It undergoes almost 100 percent fermentation in the colonII. This fermentation process leads to the generation of short-chain fatty acidsIII . These short-chain fatty acids are the primary energy source of colonocyte,IV and lower the colonic pH which is protective against colon cancer.V
