In a breakthrough discovery, researchers have claimed that extracts from cranberry have the potential to counter the spread of colon cancer by reducing the size of the tumor.
Catherine Neto of the University of Massachusetts said colon cancer might offer a particularly good target for a dietary treatment, adding that cranberry extracts might also afford protection toward other cancers, but it seems reasonable to look at colon cancer.
The research team had developed a mouse model that mimics the type of colon cancer associated with colitis.
In the study, the researchers mixed cranberry extract into the meals of mice having colon cancer and noted that the mice did not seem to mind the tart flavor.
After 20 weeks, the mice given the whole cranberry extract had about half the number of tumors as mice that had received no cranberry in their chow.
The remaining tumors in the cranberry-fed mice were also smaller. Plus, the cranberry extracts seemed to reduce the levels of inflammation markers in the mice.
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Neto said that what they found was pretty encouraging, adding that all preparations were effective to some degree, but the whole cranberry extract was the most effective.
The researchers were careful not to give the mice an absurd amount of cranberry.
Neto said this was approximately equivalent to a cup a day of cranberries if you were a human instead of a mouse.