Credit: iStockphoto Raspberries and other berries and fruits have been shown to have cancer preventative powers in several prior medical studies, but now researchers have isolated the precise organic compounds responsible for prevention: anthocyanins.
Anthocyanins are flavinoids responsible for the color found in fruits. They are highly concentrated in the darker colored fruits such as black raspberries, blueberries, red grapes, and in vegetables such as eggplant.
The study, conducted at the Ohio State Comprehensive Cancer Center, involved feeding an anthocyanin-rich extract of black raspberries to rats that had been treated with an esophageal carcinogen. The researchers gave another group of treated rats the same content of anthocyanins, but in whole blackberries.
The group fed the black raspberry extract responded nearly as well as the group receiving the whole berry, indicating to the researchers that the extract alone would be effective as a cancer preventative.
The lead author of the study, published in the January 8, 2009, American Association for Cancer Research, said that now the goal will be to figure out the best way to deliver the anthocyanins to humans and to test their effectiveness on multiple organ sites.
Science Daily :American Association for Cancer Research (2009, January 8). Chemopreventive Agents In Black Raspberries Identified. ScienceDaily.
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