Growing Body of Evidence Supports Role of Apples in Suppressing Breast Cancer

Six studies recently conducted add to the growing amount of evidence that an apple a day--as well as daily servings of other fruits and vegetables--can help keep the breast-cancer doctor away.

In a recent study, published in the December 10, 2009, issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, Dr. Rui Hai Liu, Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA) associate professor of food science and a member of Cornell's Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology, reported that fresh apple extracts considerably inhibited the size of mammary tumors in rats--and the more extracts they were given, the greater the inhibition.

"We not only observed that the treated animals had fewer tumors, but the tumors were smaller, less malignant, and grew more slowly compared with the tumors in the untreated rats,” said Dr. Liu, pointing out that the study confirmed the findings of his preliminary study in rats published in the same journal March 21, and May 8, 2007.

In his latest study, for example, Dr. Liu found that a type of adenocarcinoma--a highly malignant tumor and the main cause of death of breast cancer patients, as well as of animals with mammary cancer--was evident in 81% of tumors in the control animals. However, it developed in only 57%, 50%, and 23% of the rats fed low, middle, and high doses of apple extracts (the equivalent of one, three, and six apples a day in humans, respectively), respectively, during the 24-week study. "That reflects potent antiproliferative [rapid decrease] activity,” he said.

The studies highlight the important role of phytochemicals, known as phenolics or flavonoids, found in apples and other fruits and vegetables. Of the top 25 fruits consumed in the United States, Dr. Liu reported in the same journal August 14, 2009, that apples provide 33% of the phenolics that Americans consume annually.

In a study of apple peel published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry October 2, 2009, Dr. Liu reported on a variety of new phenolic compounds that he discovered that also have "potent antioxidant and antiproliferative activities” on tumors. Moreover, in yet another study in the same journal October 2, 2008, he reported on his discovery of the specific modulation effects that apple extracts have on cell cycle machinery. Recently, Dr. Liu's group also reported the finding that apple phytochemicals inhibit an important inflammation pathway (NFkB) in human breast cancer cells.

Dr. Liu concluded, "These studies add to the growing evidence that increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, including apples, would provide consumers with more phenolics, which are proving to have important health benefits. I would encourage consumers to eat more and a wide variety of fruits and vegetables daily.”

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