Posts Tagged ‘colon cancer’

The papaya is sweet, succulent and when served ripe has custard like taste. That the papaya thwarts cancer cells in the lab makes this an even sweeter choice. Papaya contains anti-oxidant nutrients like beta-carotene, vitamin A and C, flavonoids, folate, B vitamins and pantothenic acid. It also contains small amount of minerals like calcium, chlorine, iron phosphorus, potassium, silicon and sodium.

Papaya Cancer Protection

The Papaya provides a blast of luscious sweetness while delivering powerful immune boosting nutrients. Papaya fights cancer because it has the powerful combination of lycopene, and carotenoids. It has shown promise against hormone related cancers as well as other types. In the case of breast cancer cells research shows it can stop the growth and metastasis process.

The nutrients in papaya have been shown to help prevent colon cancer. Papaya’s fiber is able to bind with cancer-causing toxins in the colon and keep them away from the healthy colon cells. Papaya’s folate, vitamin C, beta-carotene, and vitamin E have each been associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. These nutrients provide synergistic protection for colon cells from free radical damage to their DNA.

Papaya may reduce a man’s risk of developing prostate cancer. This comes from research published in the Asia Pacific Journal of Clinical Nutrition.  Men who frequently consumed lycopene-rich fruits and vegetables such as tomatoes, apricots, pink grapefruit, watermelon , papaya, and guava were 82% less likely to have prostate cancer than those who consumed the least of these fruits. Drinking green tea while on a diet high in lycopene-rich fruits offered stronger protection. There seems to be a synergistic effect that offers substantial protection.

Papaya and Cancer Research

Scientists at the University of Illinois think this anti-oxidant activity contributes to its effectiveness as a cancer fighting agent. The University of Florida researcher Nam Dang, M.D., Ph.D and colleagues in Japan have documented papaya’s dramatic anticancer effect against a broad range of lab-grown tumors. These include cancers of the cervix, breast, liver, lung and pancreas. Researchers in Japan found the mechanisms of action in a type of isothiocyanate found in papaya known as BITC (Benzyl isothiocyanate} that underlies the relationship between cell cycle regulation and appropriate cell demise.

Adding papayas to your diet is a powerful way to ensure you are getting a nutrient-dense fruit that is a rich source of cancer fighting nutrients. The key to health is to get nutriton in and cellular toxins out. It is common sense that what works to protect against cancer are whole foods with a broad-spectrum of vitamins, minerals, and nutrients.

Mango effects on breast and colon cancers shouldn’t come as any surprise, since all colorful fruits and vegetable have an effect on cell proliferation. What is surprising is that some of the most delicious plant foods can protect and help reverse this condition. What is even more unbelievable is that this easy and enjoyable way of preventing these conditions is not being utilized.

Mango

Mango has been found to prevent or stop certain colon and breast cancer cells in the lab. That’s according to a new study by Texas AgriLife Research food scientists, Kent, Francine, Ataulfo, Tommy/Atkins and Haden, who examined the five mango varieties most common in the U.S.
 
“If you look at what people currently perceive as a superfood, people think of high antioxidant capacity, and mango is not quite there,” said Dr. Susanne Talcott, who with her husband, Dr. Steve Talcott, conducted the study on cancer cells. “In comparison with antioxidants in blueberry, acai and pomegranate, it’s not even close.”

“It has about four to five times less antioxidant capacity than an average wine grape, and it still holds up fairly well in anticancer activity. If you look at it from the physiological and nutritional standpoint, taking everything together, it would be a high-ranking super food,” she said. “It would be good to include mangoes as part of the regular diet.”

Mighty Mango

This is neither modern technology coming to the rescue, or fiction. It is a plan everyday fact that whole foods are the exclusive property of nature. There is nothing that will come out of a lab that will create better health.

The Talcotts tested mango polyphenol extracts in vitro on colon, breast, lung, leukemia and prostate cancers. Polyphenols are natural substances in plants and are associated with a variety of compounds known to promote good health.

Mango showed some impact on lung, leukemia and prostate cancers but was most effective on the most common breast and colon cancers.

“What we found is that not all cell lines are sensitive to the same extent to an anticancer agent,” she said. “But the breast and colon cancer lines underwent apoptosis, or programmed cell death. Additionally, we found that when we tested normal colon cells side by side with the colon cancer cells, that the mango polyphenolics did not harm the normal cells.”

Arsenal

The mango should be added to the arsenal of anti-cancer plants. We get sucked into the concept that if it isn’t from a lab it isn’t effective. Ratcheting up our consumption of plant food will create health. Also, it will help reverse many serious conditions.

The point to remember they will do more trials to see if this is relevant, and proceed to do human tests. That will usually be with a version that comes from a lab, in isolated forms, with higher concentrations.

We don’t need more pharmaceuticals. What we need is to consume more fruits and vegetables.