Apples fight breast cancer

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Rex Features

An apple a day keeps breast cancer away, evidence has found

Apple extract slowed the growth in rats of adenocarcinoma tumours, the biggest cause of breast cancer deaths.

Cancer developed in 57 per cent of those rats fed the human equivalent to one apple a day, while in the group that was denied apples, a huge 81 per cent suffered rapid tumour growth.

And the more apple the rats were given, the more their tumours were stunted. In rats fed the equivalent of six apples a day, only 23 per cent developed tumours.

‘We not only observed that the treated animals had fewer tumours, but the tumours were smaller, less malignant and grew more slowly compared with the tumours in untreated rats,’ said Professor Rui Hai Liu of Cornell University's Institute for Comparative and Environmental Toxicology in New York.

Apples are rich in flavonoids, as are oranges, grapes, strawberries, plums and bananas. The researchers say that the study underlines the importance of these antioxidant-rich flavonoids.

The study was backed by the American Institute for Cancer Research.

Breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in the UK. More than 12,000 women and 70 men die from it every year in the UK.

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Thursday 19 February 2009

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