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

Thursday, March 28, 2013 by: Ethan Evers

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/039680_apples_cancer_cells_chemotherapy.

(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.
Sources for this article include:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23511050
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15140261
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22332082
http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4020-9942-7_14
About the author:
Ethan Evers is author of the award-winning medical thriller "The Eden
Prescription," in which cutting-edge researchers perfect an effective, allnatural treatment for cancer, only to be hunted down by pharmaceutical
interests which will stop at nothing to protect their $80 billion cancer
drug cash machine. The Eden Prescription is based on the latest
science and draws on real historical events stretching back to the
beginning of the "War on Cancer." Ethan has a PhD in Applied Science.

Learn more:
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