Eat yogurt against cancer

An Irish scientific group has found useful microorganisms in yogurt can revolutionize the struggle with cancer.

Yogurt has the potential to revolutionize the fight against cancer.Photo: ABC.

The expert team at Cork Cancer Research Center (Corkhas University) has found harmless bacteria in yogurt that move freely in the body and can grow in cancer.

"Bacteria go from the intestine into the blood and grow inside tumors all over the body, where they can create what we want," said researcher Dr Mark Tangney on ABC.

For example, scientists can alter the genes of these bacteria, so they will secrete anti-cancer agents within the tumor itself.

This finding could one day help eliminate the technique of injecting radiation therapy into humans, which is painful, while reducing the harmful effects of many current cancer treatments on healthy cells.

Current chemotherapy methods besides killing cancer cells are toxic to many healthy cells, and often cause many side effects for patients. That's why researchers are interested in this new work.