Berries, citrus fruits, apples, grapes, and cherries have all been found to have anti-cancer properties in the diet. The antioxidants, flavonoids and phytochemicals in these delicious fruits give them their powerful abilities to fight off cancer, making a cancer prevention diet not only healthy but tasty, too.
Antioxidants and Flavonoids in Berries Fight Off Cancer
Raspberries and blueberries are both great sources of antioxidants and flavonoids. These compounds fight off cell damage that could lead to cancer and boost the immune system to help it fight off cancerous growth.
Black raspberries are particularly effective, with a mix of cancer preventing and cancer fighting antioxidants and flavonoids that actually alter hundreds of genes in cancer cells, according to Dr. Gary Stoner or Ohio State University in research published in the journal Cancer Research in 2001.
Blueberries are also potent weapons in a cancer fighting diet. A compound called pterostilbene, an antioxidant found in blueberries, was shown to prevent colon cancer in a study presented at the 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society. The protective effect of this antioxidant component makes blueberries a powerful anti-cancer fruit.
Cancer Fighting Flavonoids and Limonoids in Citrus Fruits
Grapefruits, oranges and tangerines have all shown promise as cancer-preventing fruits. Most people think of Vitamin C when they think about the healthy properties of citrus, but they also contain other components that make them powerful anti-cancer foods.
Flavonoids, found in many fruits, are particularly important in citrus. One flavonoid, nobiletin, was found to be effective against colon cancer in a study by Japanese researchers from the Kanazawa Medical University presented at the 2004 American Chemical Society meeting. Flavonoids from citrus have also been shown to kill breast cancer and lung cancer cells in laboratory studies.
Citrus fruits also contain limonoids, powerful chemicals that go beyond vitamins and flavonoids to fight against cancer cells. Liminoids aren't found in any other fruits, making citrus' cancer fighting abilities unique.
Phytochemical Rich Apples, Grapes and Cherries in Cancer Prevention
Apples have a lot of phytochemicals and because they are inexpensive and available all year long, it's easy to add them to a cancer fighting diet. Triterpenoids, a phytochemical in apple peel, inhibits and kills liver, breast and colon cancer cells in the lab. So eating the whole fruit, including the peel, is important to get all of the beneficial effects, according to Dr. Rui Hai Liu of Cornell University, who published his study on apples' effect on cancer cells in the June 2007 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
There are many other components in fruit that can help prevent or fight cancer. Pterostilbene, which is similar to the compound resveratrol in red wine, is found in grapes and shows some promising anti-cancer effects.
Apigenin from apples, cherries and grapes, seems to improve the response of cancer cells to chemotherapy, indicating that a diet high in these fruits could assist chemotherapy patients in their treatment, according to a study by UC Riverside scientists Xuan Liu and Xin Cai published in the October 2008 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Other Foods in a Cancer Fighting Diet
A balanced cancer fighting diet doesn't only contain fruits. Powerful antioxidants, phytochemicals and flavonoids can be found in vegetables, spices and even some drinks, such as in red wine.
The articles Healthy Spices That Fight Cancer and Vegetables and a Cancer Prevention Diet highlight some of the antioxidants, flavonoids and phytochemicals in these foods that fight off cancer cells and keep the body healthy.
References:
Manthey, J. A.; Guthrie, N. "Antiproliferative Activities of Citrus Flavonoids against Six Human Cancer Cell Lines." J. Agric. Food Chem.; 2002; 50(21)
Clement A. Adebamowo, et al. "Dietary flavonols and flavonol-rich foods intake and the risk of breast cancer" Int J Cancer 17 Dec 2004
B.S. Reddy, H. Newmark, N. Suh, A.M. Rimando, and C.V. Rao. March 25 2007, "Novel approaches for colon cancer prevention by types of dietary fat, pterostilbene and other food components" 233rd national meeting of the American Chemical Society
Poulose SM, Harris ED, Patil BS. Citrus limonoids induce apoptosis in human neuroblastoma cells and have radical scavenging activity. J Nutr. 2005 Apr;135(4):870-7.
Bridget Coila - I'm a cell and molecular biologist, freelance writer and photographer currently living in Beijing, China. I'm fascinated by science, ...
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