A new laboratory study published in the journal Nutrition has demonstrated that both apple pectin and polyphenol-rich apple juice components enhance biological mechanisms that produce butyrate, an anticarcinogenic compound, during the fermentation process that occurs in the colon.
Butyrate has been suggested to be a chemopreventative metabolite that might prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer, which is very common in Western industrialized countries. It is a short chain fatty acid which is seen as a major factor contributing to healthy colon mucosa. The research notes, “Butyrate not only serves as a major nutrient for the colon epithelia but is also thought …read more

Remember when I told you not to peel your apples and eat them instead, peel and all? The compounds that confer anti-cancer properties on apples are believed to sit just beneath the skin, so if you peel your apples, you’re throwing the goodies away. In fact, scientists have determined the chemical identity of those compounds. They are collectively called triterpenoids, and 13 such chemicals have been demonstrated to have antiproliferative activity toward cancer cells.
Now that the active compounds have been identified, I guess it won’t be long until scientists extract them, purify and sell as dietary supplements (much similar to …read more