Apple Extract Inhibits Tumor Growth in Rat Mammary Cancer Model

A recent paper highlighted the anticancer properties of a fresh apple extract, which drastically reduced the number and size of tumors in a rat breast cancer model.

Investigators at Cornell University (Ithaca, NY, USA) generated mammary tumors in a rat population by treating the animals with the chemical 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA). More than 71% of the treated animals developed tumors over the 24 weeks of the study while no animals in the untreated control group did so.

To test the affect of an apple extract on tumor development the rats were given the whole apple extract (0, 3.3, 10.0, or 20.0 g/kg of body weight) starting two weeks prior to DMBA administration and continuing for 24 weeks. At the end of the study the number and size of tumors was determined and histopathological evaluations of the tumors were performed.

Results published in the January 14, 2009, issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry revealed that tumors developed in only 57%, 50% and 23% of the rats fed low, middle, and high doses of apple extract (the equivalent of one, three, and six apples a day in humans). The apple-fed animals had fewer and smaller tumors as compared to the untreated group. In addition, the expression of such cancer markers as proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), cyclin D1, and Bcl-2 decreased, while indicators of tumor suppression such as Bax expression and apoptosis increased with increasing dosage of apple extract.

"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 senior author Dr. Rui Hai Liu, associate professor of food science at Cornell University. "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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