(08-04-13) Apple extract kills colon cancer cells better than chemo drug in latest study

by Ethan Evers

(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

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