Peaches for Prevention and Halting Cancer Growth
Can we just hang up our hats and admit that every fruit is a superfruit? It turns out peaches are beyond amazing.
A Washington State University food scientist and colleagues at Texas A&M have found that compounds in peaches can inhibit the growth of breast cancer cells and their ability to spread. They are emphasizing good nutrition for preventing cancer.
Compelling research in Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, showed that the compounds could be recommended as a novel addition to therapies that reduce the risk of metastasis, or spread. But it doesn’t have to come from a compound or supplement.
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Just two to three peaches a day, which could easily be achieved with a juicer, blender or blaster – have an astounding effect.
Giuliana Noratto, WSU assistant professor of food science says “do three peaches a day.”
But, she is underscoring other foods as well, saying,
Having enough fruits and vegetables that can provide these compounds in our diet, we might have a similar preventive effect.
She is now looking at compounds in wheat, barley, quinoa, apples and dairy products that could have a role in preventing obesity-related diseases. She gravitated to natural biochemical research after doing work on the antioxidant activity of root plants in her native Peru.
She noted plant traditions for healing.
We have a huge tradition of medicinal plants. We are great believers that you can cure yourself by having a good diet and a good supply of medicinal plants.
In 2009, showed that peach and plum extracts suppressed breast cancer cells cultured in Petri dishes. For this one, a lot of mice were sacrificed to find the answers. They implanted breast cancer cells into the skin of mice through a xenograft.
After a week, they fed the mice varying doses of peach polyphenols, compounds that help plants ward off the damaging effects of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation.
Noratto added:
There are several studies showing that these compounds act as antioxidants and can therefore protect DNA against damage that can produce cancer.
The “internal sunscreen” effect of fresh fruits and vegetables (like grapes) have been noted time and again. Noratto and colleagues wanted to see if these same compounds would make cancer cells commit suicide.
After 12 days they saw that mice fed with high levels of polyphenols had tumors that grew less and without much of the blood vessel formation that can help cancer cells spread to other parts of the body. The tumors in those mice also had less evidence of enzymes involved in the spread and invasion of cancer.
If scaled up to a 132-pound person, the same dose could be supplied by two to three peaches a day or a dietary supplement of peach polyphenol extract powder.
Heather Callaghan is a natural health blogger and food freedom activist. You can see her work at NaturalBlaze.com and ActivistPost.com. Like at Facebook.
Recent posts by Heather Callaghan:
- Remembering Heidi Stevenson of Gaia Health
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