Issue Date: The Grower

Apples have the 'guts' — and phytonutrients — to stand up to digestive cancers

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 United Kingdom’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.

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, according to 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 reports that evidence from the majority of epidemiological studies indicates that high fruit and vegetable consumption protects against many cancers, and especially 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 5 grams of fiber, 20 percent of the recommended daily value of 25 to 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.

Johnson notes that laboratory and 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.