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'The Prostate Cure' Scribe to Sign Books

CARRIE SPENCER
THE SAGINAW NEWS

Dr. Harry G. Preuss did not know he was promoting a Saginaw Township company's product when he wrote "The Prostate Cure" with Brenda Adderly.

Preuss, professor of medicine and pathology at Georgetown University Medical Center, will conduct a book-signing from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Barnes & Noble, 3311 Tittabawassee in Saginaw Township. He will give a short talk and answer questions.

The authors say one of the seven steps - including proper diet and exercise - for fighting noncancerous conditions that enlarge the prostate is using Cernilton pollen extract.

Graminex LLC, 95 Midland, is the sole pollen supplier and U.S. distributor for Swedish extract manufacturer AB Cernelle. The authors based the book on public documents on Cernelle.

Preuss sits on the Advisory Council for the Office of Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health. A U.S. laboratory that marketed the extract but later sold its rights asked him to write the book. He said he does not benefit from the product's sale.

"It sounded like a bunch of mumbo-jumbo to me," he said.

But the authors found about a dozen studies showing the extract's effectiveness compared with dummy pills or other prostate drugs. The studies also were double - blind: Neither the patient nor the doctor doing the assessment knew who had what pill.

"They're pretty darn good (studies)," Preuss said. "This isn't a bunch of testimonials."

However, the book also showed up in, an editorial on "Snake-Oil Best Sellers" by Greg Critser in the Wall Street Journal aimed

mostly at Dr. Bob. Arnot's "The Breast Cancer Prevention Diet," the piece blasted inflated medical claims in "the most irresponsible behavior by mainstream publishers in years."

The piece says "The Prostate Cure" promotes a natural product, which Critser incorrectly calls bee pollen, in a list of platitudes such as "reduce stress."

(Crown Publishers Inc. reports the book did not make any best-seller lists.)

Preuss said he argued with the publisher to drop the word "cure" from the title, but is confident of the content between the covers.

The company's three-page chemical analysis of the extract lists vitamins, minerals, amino acids, lipids and plant hormones.

The book says the extract has three effects that make it specific to prostate problems: It works as an anti-inflammatory; it relaxes the involuntary muscles to ease urine flow; and it prevents the conversion of testosterone into the prostate-swelling hormone DHT.

Cernilton also has virtually no side effects, Preuss added.

"In large studies, every once in a while they came up with someone with an upset stomach," he said.

In the laboratory, the extract has stopped the growth of human prostate cells. However, no clinical trials have indicated it prevents enlargement, he said. Theoretically, he added, it should.

Overall, the studies found improvement on symptoms, such as obstructed urine flow or frequent nighttime bathroom trips, in 40 percent to 80 percent of patients.

"I always tell people nothing works on everyone," Preuss said.

Always talk to a doctor before taking a supplement, he added, and don't change any treatment arbitrarily.