(13-04-11) Strawberries may prevent esophageal cancer

by S. L. Baker, features writer

(NaturalNews) According to the National Cancer Institute, about 16,700 new
cases of esophageal cancer were diagnosed last year -- and about 14,500 people
died from the disease. Obviously, there's no easy cure for this often fatal
malignancy. So, as with any disease, it's much better to prevent getting it in
the first place.

But how? Mainstream medicine pushes Big Pharma drugs called H2 blockers and
proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) to calm gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) in
hopes of preventing Barrett's esophagus, a complication of GERD that ups the
risk for esophageal cancer. But these meds are loaded with potential side
effects and there's no strong evidence they really prevent cancer.

However, a new study provides evidence there may be a natural and tasty way to
not only lower the odds of developing esophageal cancer but to halt and perhaps
reverse the progression of precancerous lesions.

The powerful and delicious substance? Strawberries, especially the freeze-
dried variety.These findings were just presented for the first time at the
American Association for Cancer Research's (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting 2011,
held in Orlando.

"We concluded from this study that six months of eating strawberries is safe
and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that
strawberries can decrease histological grade of precancerous lesions and reduce
cancer-related molecular events," said lead researcher Tong Chen, M.D., Ph.D.,
assistant professor, division of medical oncology, department of internal
medicine at Ohio State University. Dr. Chen is also a member of the Molecular
Carcinogenesis and Chemoprevention Program in Ohio State University's
Comprehensive Cancer Center.

She pointed out that esophageal cancer is the third most common
gastrointestinal cancer and the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in
the world. Dr. Chen and her research team are zeroing in on esophageal squamous
cell carcinoma (SCC) which accounts for 95 percent of cases of esophageal
cancer worldwide.

In earlier research, Dr. Chen's research team discovered that freeze-dried
strawberries significantly inhibited esophageal tumor development in rats. For
the new study, the scientists launched a trial which included participants with
esophageal precancerous lesions who were at high risk for developing full-blown
esophageal cancer.

The research subjects consumed 60 grams of freeze-dried strawberries every day
for six months. Freeze-dried strawberries were used because, by removing the
water from the berries, the natural cancer-preventive substances in the
strawberries soared by nearly 10-fold, according to Dr. Chen.

Biopsies were taken before and after the six months of strawberry consumption.
The results showed that 29 out of 36 participants experienced a decrease in the
histological grade of their precancerous esophageal lesions during the time
they ate the strawberries.

"Our study is important because it shows that strawberries may slow the
progression of precancerous lesions in the esophagus. Strawberries may be an
alternative or work together with other chemopreventive drugs for the
prevention of esophageal cancer," Dr. Chen stated.

For more information:
http://www.healingfoodreference.com...
http://www.naturalnews.com/strawber...

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In evidenza

"L'informazione presente nel sito serve a migliorare, e non a sostituire, il rapporto medico-paziente."

Per coloro che hanno problemi di salute si consiglia di consultare sempre il proprio medico curante.