British experts are studying four different pills made from isolated chemical compounds in Thai sticky rice, bilberries, red wine and spices that may help prevent cancer.

Professor Will Steward, a cancer and molecular medicine expert, said the compounds appear to reduce the risk of cancer in some people and that their study was the latest step in the fight to find drugs that stop cells becoming malignant. Professor Steward and his fellow researchers have identified the compounds after searching for drugs that stop cells becoming malignant, a technique called chemoprevention. Their work at the University of Leicester was prompted by research which found that rural populations in Thailand with a diet rich in sticky rice are less likely to develop breast cancer.

The compounds are tricin, found in Thai sticky rice, resveratrol from red wine, curcumin found in turmeric, and anthocyanins groups of antioxidants derived from bilberries. They may prevent tumours in breast, colon and prostate. Steward's work at the University of Leicester is based on evidence that villagers in Thailand, who eat a lot of sticky rice, are less likely to develop breast cancer.

"These drugs have proved highly effective in the laboratory - it is extraordinary. They act in numerous ways on pre-cancerous cells, but they also appear to be effective on cancerous cells. We know they are safe to use but we want to establish if they are effective in humans." We do not know whether there will be a 40% reduction in risk in the body - it could be more, it could be less," Steward said. The pills should be available in the market by 2010.