Eating Fabulous

Black Raspberries Prevent Cancer By Restoring Gene Alteration

by ruth on September 5th, 2008

In an animal model of esophageal cancer, researchers were able to show that freeze-dried black raspberry powder was able to restore some of the genetic alterations brought about by a chemical carcinogen, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine.

To conduct this study, Stoner and his colleagues fed rats either a normal diet or a diet containing 5 percent black-raspberry powder. During the third week, half the animals in each diet group were injected three times with a chemical carcinogen, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine. The animals continued consuming the diets during the week of carcinogen treatment.

After the third week, the researchers examined the animals’ esophageal tissue, thereby capturing gene changes that occur early during carcinogen exposure. Their analyses included measuring the activity, or expression levels, of 41,000 genes. In the carcinogen-treated animals, 2,261 of these genes showed changes in activity of 50 percent or higher.

In the animals fed berry powder, however, a fifth of the carcinogen affected genes – exactly 462 of them – showed near-normal levels of activity, when compared with controls.

Lastly, of the 462 genes restored to normal by the berries, 53 of them were also returned to normal by a second chemoprevention agent tested during a companion study.

These results imply several things:

First, they were able to demonstrate the chemopreventive effects of black raspberries. Second, they believe that the early deregulation of the 53 genes may play a crucial role in the development of esophageal cancer. And thirdly, while black raspberries confer anti-cancer properties, they are not powerful enough to achieve 100% cancer chemoprevention. A second agent is needed to boost the chemopreventive activities of berries.

Photo Credit: fsgm via Flickr

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POSTED IN: ~Cancer, ~Fruit and Vegetables