Study: Apples May Have the Guts to Stand Up to Digestive Cancer

Study Links Apple Phytonutrient and Fiber With Reduced Risk of Digestive Cancers

Vienna, Va. New research suggests that nutrients found abundantly in apples may have the "guts" to stand up to certain digestive cancers.

A newly-published scientific review reports that eating more fiber-and phytonutrient-rich fruits and vegetables - including flavonoids found most abundantly in apples - may significantly reduce the risk of developing digestive or "gut" cancers. Such cancers are one of the world's top causes of cancer-related illness and death.

Professor Ian Johnson of the U.K.'s Institute for Food Research reviewed the scientific literature regarding digestive cancers, and concluded that better diet - and especially diets rich in micronutrients, fiber and plant-based phytonutrients including flavonoids - can play a significant role in reducing the human toll caused by these cancers. His analysis was just published in the peer-reviewed journal Mutation Research. (Source: Johnson, I.T. Mutation Research: Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis 2004; vol. 551, issues 1-2 pp. 9-2. The paper can be accessed online at www.sciencedirect.com/science)

Better Diet Can Help Reduce Gut Cancers

Digestive cancers - cancers of the pharynx, esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum - are among the top causes of cancer-related illness and death around the world, accounting for 23 percent of new cancer cases worldwide in 2000 per World Health Organization statistics. Such cancers don't develop from exposure to carcinogens as with tobacco-related cancers, but rather primarily from cell damage that could be countered with a proper diet.

Johnson reported that evidence from the majority of epidemiological studies indicates that high fruit and vegetable consumption protects against many cancers, and especially digestive cancers. His review identified micronutrients, fiber, and phytonutrients such as flavonoids - all found abundantly in fruits and vegetables - as most protective against digestive cancers.

Apples are one of the richest fruit sources of dietary fiber, and are one of the leading sources of phytonutrients among all plant foods. One medium, tennis ball-sized apple contains five grams of fiber, 20 percent of the recommended daily value of 25-35 grams per day.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) researchers reported earlier this summer that apples were among the top three-ranked fruits in total phenolic content, an important class of phytonutrients, and in antioxidant capacity, an indicator of how active the food is in fighting disease-causing oxidative damage in the body. (Source: Wu, X. et al. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry June 2004, vol. 52, issue 12; pp. 4026-4037; available online at http://pubs.acs.org/journals/jafcau/ .)

Johnson noted that in vitro laboratory and in vivo animal research indicates that phytonutrients may fight cancer through various mechanisms, including controlling oxidative damage, inflammation and cancer cell proliferation, speeding the rate of cancer cell death, and suppressing tumor formation and growth. While the regular use of anti-inflammatory drugs was also reported as protective, Johnson noted that the nutrients in a food act synergistically with each other, even among different foods, to promote health, suggesting whole foods are preferred to pills.

Study Adds to Knowledge of Apple Health Benefits

Other recent studies have also pointed to the potential health benefits of apples, apple flavonoids and fiber. In February, the Archives of Internal Medicine reported that fiber consumption appears to reduce heart disease risk, based on their analysis of 10 studies from the United States and Europe. Fruit fiber was found to be most beneficial; for every 10 grams of extra fruit fiber - the equivalent of two apples - consumed per day, the risk of developing heart disease fell 14 percent, and the risk of dying from heart disease fell 30 percent.

Previous research has documented the potential health benefits of apple flavonoids. Mayo Clinic researchers reported in 2001 that the flavonoid quercetin, found most abundantly in apples, prevented prostate cancer cell growth in their in vitro study. University of Hawaii researchers linked flavonoids, and in particular quercetin, with a reduced risk of lung cancer based on their case-control study published in 2001. In 1997, Finnish researchers reported that flavonoids and apples were associated with a reduced risk of all cancers and lung cancer, based on their 25+-year-long epidemiological study.

In March, researchers at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell provided other food for thought about apples. Dr. Thomas Shea and colleagues reported that apples may promote brain health, by promoting memory and learning, and reducing oxidative cell damage in the brain that is associated with neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer's. That animal study was funded by a grant from the U.S. Apple Association and the Apple Products Research and Education Council.

The U.S. Apple Association (USApple) is the national trade association representing all segments of the apple industry. Members include 40 state and regional apple associations representing the 7,500 apple growers throughout the country, as well as more than 400 individual firms involved in the apple business. USApple's mission is to provide the means for all segments of the U.S. apple industry to join in appropriate collective efforts to profitably produce and market apples and apple products.