Originally published October 19 2005
Cranberries could protect against developing cancer
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Catherine Neto at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth has led a study focusing on the cancer-fighting compounds found in cranberries.
The chemicals, called proanthocyanidins, inhibited the growth of human lung, colon and leukaemia cells in culture, without affecting healthy cells.
The work by Catherine Neto at the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and colleagues is important as it is one of the first studies to look closely at the compounds in this fruit that are responsible for anti-cancer activity.
"Anti-cancer activity has been reported in the literature from way back but there is no good real data on the structures [in cranberries]," Neto told NutraIngredients.com.
There are several groups of antioxidant compounds in cranberries that could protect against cancer, she noted, including quercetin and ursolic acid.
But while cranberry extracts have previously been shown to inhibit human cancer cells, in most cases the researchers did not identify the active constituents responsible for such an effect.
Moreover, while proanthocyanidins from grapeseed have been linked to cancer inhibition, the structure of these chemicals is significantly different in cranberries compared with other berries.
"Unlike most fruit, cranberries contain PACs with A-type linkages between units, a structural feature identified in cranberry PACs with antibacterial adhesion properties and those with LDL-protective properties," write Neto and colleagues in the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture (DOI 10.1002/jsfa.2347).
"Previously published reports have suggested that cranberry proanthocyanidins have anti-cancer properties but there are few data on tumour growth inhibition by well-characterized cranberry proanthocyanidins," they note.
The authors isolated a proanthocyanidin-rich fraction of a whole cranberry extract made from fruit donated by US-based Decas Cranberries.
The study showed significant inihibition of the proliferation of cancer cells, not previously shown with other proanthocyanidins, as well as the blocking of tumour growth.
There are probably several mechanisms for the cranberry's anti-cancer action, said Neto, but further work needs to be done to clarify this.
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