Apple extract kills colon cancer cells better than chemo

Apple extract kills colon cancer cells better than chemo drug in latest study


(NaturalNews) Oligosaccharides from apples killed up to 46 percent of
human colon cancer cells in vitro, and outperformed the most commonly
used chemo drug by a wide margin at every dose level tested. And unlike
toxic chemo drugs, oligosaccharides are natural, health-promoting
compounds widely present in fruits and vegetables.


A natural solution for a leading cause of cancer death?

Colon
cancer is currently the second leading cause of cancer-related death
for women worldwide, and the third leading cause for men. The
standard-of-care chemo drug used for colon cancer has seen limited
success, and can have serious side effects such as coronary spasm,
neurotoxicity, anemia, and immunosuppression. Researchers focused on
apples as a natural means for treating and preventing colon cancer
because they are the most widely consumed fruit in many countries, and
have already demonstrated activity against breast cancer, ovarian
cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, and colon cancer. Apple
oligosaccharides were used in this study because their anti-cancer
properties have been established in previous studies, and they can be
cheaply derived from apple pomace - a widely available waste product
left over from the apple juice processing industry.

Apple oligosaccharides are more effective than chemo drug at killing colon cancer cells

University
researchers in Xi'an, China isolated polysaccharides (pectin and other
fibers) from apple pomace and treated them with natural pectinase to
break down their molecules into smaller oligosaccharides (which have
only three to ten sugar units per molecule). The oligosaccharides were
then added to cultured human HT29 colon cancer cells at various concentrations, and compared with the most commonly used chemo drug for colon cancer.

For
every concentration tested, the oligosaccharides outperformed the chemo
drug at inducing programmed cell death (apoptosis). For example, at
just 0.9 micrograms per mL (about 0.9 PPM), oligosaccharides killed 17.6
percent of the colon cancer
cells after 36 hours, while the chemo drug killed only 10.9 percent (at
a higher concentration of 1.3 micrograms per mL). More importantly,
because the apple oligosaccharides are non-toxic to healthy cells, they
can be used at higher concentrations than possible with the chemo drug.
At 9.0 PPM, the oligosaccharides killed 46 percent of the colon cancer
cells (the chemo drug was not tested at this level).

Oligosaccharides - Functional food with multiple health benefits

Oligosaccharides
have been gaining increasing attention recently as general
health-promoting functional foods, and are probably used to enrich
several foods you already eat (i.e. as fructo-oligosaccharides). They
have been found in studies to promote healthy intestinal flora, control
blood sugar, and modulate the immune system. Oligosaccharides occur
naturally in many plants (fruits, vegetables and algae) as well as in
honey and milk. They can also be formed by breaking down the fruit's
more complex carbohydrates (i.e. pectin) by pectolytic enzymes, as was
done by the researchers in this study. To some extent, this reaction may
also occur when eating the raw fruit, since apples
naturally contain about 1.5 percent pectin as well as the pectinase
enzyme. However, it should be noted that most commercially processed
apple juice contains virtually no pectin or active enzymes, and also
contains only about 10 percent of the health-giving polyphenols compared
to raw apples. As usual, eating raw and fresh is far healthier than
consuming the processed version.

This new study adds further
evidence to the health-promoting effects of apples and the potent
anti-cancer effects of their oligosaccharides, even at low
concentrations. The fact that these oligosaccharides can be derived from
a widely available waste product of the apple juice industry (about
four million tons of pomace are produced annually) offers promise for a
low-cost natural medicine in the future.

Source:-
http://www.naturalnews.com/039680_apples_cancer_cells_chemotherapy.html