Fruits, Phytochemicals & Breast Cancer

If you love sinking your teeth into juicy delectableMangos
fruits, you are in luck, particularly if you knowAt Texas A&M University's AgriLife Research
someone with breast cancer or are a breastdepartment, laboratory experiments indicated that
cancer patient yourself. New research indicatesmango fruit prevented or stopped cancer growth
that substances found in pomegranates andin certain breast and colon cell lines. The
mangoes may be natural alternatives to breastexperiments also showed that mango extract
cancer medication and other treatment options.demonstrated some anticancer abilities when
Pomegranates and mangoes are considered to betested on prostate, leukemia and lung cancer cells.
superfruits, or fruits that are known for theirWhen tested on the most common breast and
exceptional nutritional richness and antioxidantcolon cancers, however, mango compounds were
qualities. The wonderful thing about fruits asfound to have even stronger cancer fighting
natural medicines is that they are delicious, containabilities than when tested on the other types of
a variety of nutrients, and there are nocancer cells.
side-effects as a result of their consumption.In the experiments, the researchers documented
Pomegranatesthat the cancer cell division process was
In reference to the results of a study published ininterrupted by the mango extract. In fact, the
the January issue of Cancer Prevention Research,mango extract caused the colon and breast
researchers say they've found a naturalcancer cells to undergo apoptosis, or programmed
substance in pomegranates that could prevent thecell death.
development of hormone-dependent cancer andWhat do mangoes contain that may eventually
stop the growth of estrogen-responsive tumors.have the scientific and medical communities singing
Pomegranate fruit contains phytochemicals,their praises as worthwhile adversaries of breast
specifically Urolithin B, that work like aromatasecancer? The answer is polyphenols, the natural
inhibitors.phytochemicals found in plants. Polyphenols are
Aromatase inhibitors are used by physicians toantioxidants with the potential to protect the
block the synthesis of estrogen in an attempt tobody from disease.
subdue the growth of estrogen-dependent breastWhen husband and wife food scientists Dr.
cancer tumors. According to the Mayo ClinicSuzanne and Steve Talcott performed the
website, AI drugs come choc-full of side effectsexperiments at Texas A&M, they evaluated
such as severe joint pain, muscle aches, hotspecific polyphenols for effectiveness. What they
flashes, headaches, bone fractures, fatigue, andfound was that gallotannins were the most active
even a risk of heart disease.cancer-fighting agents in mangoes. Gallotannins are
The research team for the aforementioned studya class of natural polyphenolic compounds believed
discovered that natural phytochemicals found into aid in the prevention or halt the growth of
pomegranates suppress estrogen production,cancer cells.
thereby preventing the spread of cancer cells andSo, pomegranate and mango lovers, eat and drink
the growth of estrogen-responsive tumors. Oneup! Both fruits have the potential to alter some of
particular substance found in pomegranates -those dismal breast cancer statistics by
dubbed Urolithin B - significantly inhibited thepreventing the spread of cancer!
growth of cultured cancer cells in the laboratory.