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Anti-Cancer Potential of Peaches and Plums Revealed

Texas AgriLife Research (US) team discovers that phenolic compounds present in peach and plum extracts kill breast cancer cells, without affecting healthy cells.

Peaches and plums are high in antioxidants and phytonutrients, and contain phenolic compounds that yield the fruits’ distinctive aromas, tastes, and colors.  In lab tests conducted by Luis Cisneros-Zevallos, from Texas AgriLife Research (Texas, USA), and colleagues, breast cancer cells – including the most aggressive type — died after treatments with peach and plum extracts, while the normal cells were not harmed in the process.  The team reports that two phenols present in the fruits exerted the protective effect, writing that: “We [confirm] that phenolic acids present … have potential as chemopreventive dietary compounds because of the relatively high growth inhibition exerted on the estrogen-independent … breast cancer cell line and low toxicity.”

Giuliana Noratto, Weston Porter, David Byrne, Luis Cisneros-Zevallos. “Identifying Peach and Plum Polyphenols with Chemopreventive Potential against Estrogen-Independent Breast Cancer Cells.”  J. Agric. Food Chem., 2009, 57 (12), pp 5219–5226; DOI: 10.1021/jf900259m.

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