COLUMBUS, Ohio -- There is a potentially powerful biological weapon for health -- a mix of compounds suspected of thwarting colon cancer -- hiding deep inside the juicy sweetness of a black raspberry. And if it can be harnessed, it could play a major role in preventing the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States.

In a recent study, rats that were injected with a cancer-causing agent and then fed a berry-rich diet had 80 percent fewer malignant tumors compared to rats that had no berries in their diet.

For years, scientists have touted the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables. Theyre only now starting to gain an understanding of what compounds give certain foods a healthful edge. Black raspberries are rich in several substances thought to have cancer-preventing properties, said Gary Stoner, a study co-author and a professor of public health at Ohio State University. Stoner is also a researcher at the universitys Comprehensive Cancer Center.

Such substances are called antioxidants. The researchers also compared the antioxidant activity of black raspberries to that of blueberries and strawberries, two fruits with suspected chemopreventive effects. Black raspberries prevailed in the comparison by as much as 40 percent.

We were surprised by how much difference there was between the anti
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Contact: Gary Stoner
Stoner.21@osu.edu
614-293-3713
Ohio State University
1-May-2002

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