Drug companies and supplement manufacturers have yet to isolate the components of cranberries that suppress cancer cell growth.
Cranberries vs. Cancer
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
In addition to suppressing liver cancer growth in vitro, cranberries have also been found to have similar effects against human breast, colon, brain tumor, oral, and ovarian cancer cells. Here’s the latest, looking at prostate cancer cell growth. The United States has “the highest rate of prostate cancer” in the world, so let’s try a native American fruit.
Researchers started out with about 50,000 human prostate cancer cells in a petri dish. And, if you do nothing, within a day, you’re closer to 100,000, then 200,000, and then, nearly 400,000 within 72 hours. But, by adding just a smidgen of cranberries, or two smidgens, you can see they block that exponential cancer growth.
The reason they tested such tiny concentrations is that we only absorb a small fraction of the cranberry phytonutrients we eat into our bloodstream. Still, cranberries are cheap. If drug companies and supplement manufacturers are going to capitalize on this, they needed to find cranberries’ active ingredient.
Here’s some of the various phytonutrients in cranberries. So, different fractions were tested against various types of cancer to find the magic bullet. Yes, the anthocyanin phytonutrients inhibit colon cancer cell proliferation about 15%, for example. About the same with the proanthocyanidin fraction. But nothing compared to the total cranberry extract of the whole fruit. There seemed to be “additive or synergistic antiproliferative effects” resulting from the combination of the various components, “compared to individual purified phytochemicals.” So, it’s always better to eat the whole fruit.
How do you do that with cranberries, though? Although 5% of cranberries are sold fresh, the vast majority are consumed as processed products. To get the same amount of anthocyanin phytonutrients in a cup of fresh or frozen cranberries, you’d have to drink 16 cups of cranberry juice cocktail, eat 7 cups of dried cranberries, or 26 cans of cranberry sauce.
The problem is that raw cranberries are so tart that folks may opt for the dried. In a taste test survey, consumers said they wouldn’t mind eating sweetened cranberries every day, whereas raw cranberries sloped down towards maybe once a year. The problem is, dried cranberries tend to come sweetened. Raw cranberries don’t affect your blood sugar, but sweetened dried cranberries do—even the low-sugar varieties.
What about cranberry juice, or shall I say quote-unquote juice? Cranberry cocktail is only about a quarter cranberry juice. The ruby red phytonutrients in cranberries and pure cranberry juice are powerful antioxidants, increasing the antioxidant capacity of our bloodstream within hours of consumption. But, the high fructose corn syrup acts as a pro-oxidant—even if you add vitamin C to it, as they did here— cancelling out some of the cranberry benefit.
So, how do you get the upsides without the down? Check out my pink juice video, where I offer a recipe for making no-sugar-added, whole-fruit cranberry cocktail.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- M. H. Grace, A. R. Massey, F. Mbeunkui, G. G. Yousef, M. A. Lila. Comparison of health-relevant flavonoids in commonly consumed cranberry products. J. Food Sci. 2012 77(8):H176 - 183
- T. Wilson, J. L. Luebke, E. F. Morcomb, E. J. Carrell, M. C. Leveranz, L. Kobs, T. P. Schmidt, P. J. Limburg, N. Vorsa, A. P. Singh. Glycemic responses to sweetened dried and raw cranberries in humans with type 2 diabetes. J. Food Sci. 2010 75(8):H218 - 223
- J. A. Vinson, P. Bose, J. Proch, H. A. Kharrat, N. Samman. Cranberries and cranberry products: Powerful in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo sources of antioxidants. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2008 56(14):5884 - 5891
- J. Sun, Y.-F. Chu, X. Wu, R. H. Liu. Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of common fruits. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2002 50(25):7449 - 7454
- C. C. Neto. Cranberries: Ripe for more cancer research? J. Sci. Food Agric. 2011 91(13):2303 - 2307
- B. Déziel, J. MacPhee, K. Patel, A. Catalli, M. Kulka, C. Neto, K. Gottschall-Pass, R. Hurta. American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) extract affects human prostate cancer cell growth via cell cycle arrest by modulating expression of cell cycle regulators. Food Funct 2012 3(5):556 - 564
- N. P. Seeram, L. S. Adams, M. L. Hardy, D. Heber. Total cranberry extract versus its phytochemical constituents: Antiproliferative and synergistic effects against human tumor cell lines. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2004 52(9):2512 - 2517
- . Cassidy, É. J. O'Reilly, C. Kay, L. Sampson, M. Franz, J. P. Forman, G. Curhan, E. B. Rimm. Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and incident hypertension in adults. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2011 93(2):338 - 347
- K. Kitdamrongsont, P. Pothavorn, S. Swangpol, S. Wongniam, K. Atawongsa, J. Svasti, J. Somana. Anthocyanin composition of wild bananas in Thailand. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2008 56(22):10853 - 10857
- I. D. Podmore, H. R. Griffiths, K. E. Herbert, N. Mistry, P. Mistry, J. Lunec. Vitamin C exhibits pro-oxidant properties. Nature 1998 392(6676):559
- M. V. Eberhardt, C. Y. Lee, R. H. Liu. Antioxidant activity of fresh apples. Nature 2000 405(6789):903 - 904
Image thanks to Shaw Girl via flickr
- anthocyanins
- antioxidants
- blood sugar
- brain health
- breast cancer
- breast health
- cancer
- colon cancer
- colon health
- cranberries
- cranberry juice
- dried fruit
- fruit
- high fructose corn syrup
- liver cancer
- liver health
- medications
- men's health
- oral cancer
- ovarian cancer
- ovary health
- phytonutrients
- prostate cancer
- prostate health
- sugar
- supplements
- vitamin C
- women's health
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
In addition to suppressing liver cancer growth in vitro, cranberries have also been found to have similar effects against human breast, colon, brain tumor, oral, and ovarian cancer cells. Here’s the latest, looking at prostate cancer cell growth. The United States has “the highest rate of prostate cancer” in the world, so let’s try a native American fruit.
Researchers started out with about 50,000 human prostate cancer cells in a petri dish. And, if you do nothing, within a day, you’re closer to 100,000, then 200,000, and then, nearly 400,000 within 72 hours. But, by adding just a smidgen of cranberries, or two smidgens, you can see they block that exponential cancer growth.
The reason they tested such tiny concentrations is that we only absorb a small fraction of the cranberry phytonutrients we eat into our bloodstream. Still, cranberries are cheap. If drug companies and supplement manufacturers are going to capitalize on this, they needed to find cranberries’ active ingredient.
Here’s some of the various phytonutrients in cranberries. So, different fractions were tested against various types of cancer to find the magic bullet. Yes, the anthocyanin phytonutrients inhibit colon cancer cell proliferation about 15%, for example. About the same with the proanthocyanidin fraction. But nothing compared to the total cranberry extract of the whole fruit. There seemed to be “additive or synergistic antiproliferative effects” resulting from the combination of the various components, “compared to individual purified phytochemicals.” So, it’s always better to eat the whole fruit.
How do you do that with cranberries, though? Although 5% of cranberries are sold fresh, the vast majority are consumed as processed products. To get the same amount of anthocyanin phytonutrients in a cup of fresh or frozen cranberries, you’d have to drink 16 cups of cranberry juice cocktail, eat 7 cups of dried cranberries, or 26 cans of cranberry sauce.
The problem is that raw cranberries are so tart that folks may opt for the dried. In a taste test survey, consumers said they wouldn’t mind eating sweetened cranberries every day, whereas raw cranberries sloped down towards maybe once a year. The problem is, dried cranberries tend to come sweetened. Raw cranberries don’t affect your blood sugar, but sweetened dried cranberries do—even the low-sugar varieties.
What about cranberry juice, or shall I say quote-unquote juice? Cranberry cocktail is only about a quarter cranberry juice. The ruby red phytonutrients in cranberries and pure cranberry juice are powerful antioxidants, increasing the antioxidant capacity of our bloodstream within hours of consumption. But, the high fructose corn syrup acts as a pro-oxidant—even if you add vitamin C to it, as they did here— cancelling out some of the cranberry benefit.
So, how do you get the upsides without the down? Check out my pink juice video, where I offer a recipe for making no-sugar-added, whole-fruit cranberry cocktail.
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- M. H. Grace, A. R. Massey, F. Mbeunkui, G. G. Yousef, M. A. Lila. Comparison of health-relevant flavonoids in commonly consumed cranberry products. J. Food Sci. 2012 77(8):H176 - 183
- T. Wilson, J. L. Luebke, E. F. Morcomb, E. J. Carrell, M. C. Leveranz, L. Kobs, T. P. Schmidt, P. J. Limburg, N. Vorsa, A. P. Singh. Glycemic responses to sweetened dried and raw cranberries in humans with type 2 diabetes. J. Food Sci. 2010 75(8):H218 - 223
- J. A. Vinson, P. Bose, J. Proch, H. A. Kharrat, N. Samman. Cranberries and cranberry products: Powerful in vitro, ex vivo, and in vivo sources of antioxidants. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2008 56(14):5884 - 5891
- J. Sun, Y.-F. Chu, X. Wu, R. H. Liu. Antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of common fruits. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2002 50(25):7449 - 7454
- C. C. Neto. Cranberries: Ripe for more cancer research? J. Sci. Food Agric. 2011 91(13):2303 - 2307
- B. Déziel, J. MacPhee, K. Patel, A. Catalli, M. Kulka, C. Neto, K. Gottschall-Pass, R. Hurta. American cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) extract affects human prostate cancer cell growth via cell cycle arrest by modulating expression of cell cycle regulators. Food Funct 2012 3(5):556 - 564
- N. P. Seeram, L. S. Adams, M. L. Hardy, D. Heber. Total cranberry extract versus its phytochemical constituents: Antiproliferative and synergistic effects against human tumor cell lines. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2004 52(9):2512 - 2517
- . Cassidy, É. J. O'Reilly, C. Kay, L. Sampson, M. Franz, J. P. Forman, G. Curhan, E. B. Rimm. Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and incident hypertension in adults. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2011 93(2):338 - 347
- K. Kitdamrongsont, P. Pothavorn, S. Swangpol, S. Wongniam, K. Atawongsa, J. Svasti, J. Somana. Anthocyanin composition of wild bananas in Thailand. J. Agric. Food. Chem. 2008 56(22):10853 - 10857
- I. D. Podmore, H. R. Griffiths, K. E. Herbert, N. Mistry, P. Mistry, J. Lunec. Vitamin C exhibits pro-oxidant properties. Nature 1998 392(6676):559
- M. V. Eberhardt, C. Y. Lee, R. H. Liu. Antioxidant activity of fresh apples. Nature 2000 405(6789):903 - 904
Image thanks to Shaw Girl via flickr
- anthocyanins
- antioxidants
- blood sugar
- brain health
- breast cancer
- breast health
- cancer
- colon cancer
- colon health
- cranberries
- cranberry juice
- dried fruit
- fruit
- high fructose corn syrup
- liver cancer
- liver health
- medications
- men's health
- oral cancer
- ovarian cancer
- ovary health
- phytonutrients
- prostate cancer
- prostate health
- sugar
- supplements
- vitamin C
- women's health
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Cranberries vs. Cancer
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Content URLDoctor's Note
How do cranberries compare to other common fruits? See Which Fruit Fights Cancer Better?
More on nutrient synergy in:
- Fighting Inflammation with Food Synergy
- Garden Variety Anti-Inflammation
- New Mineral Absorption Enhancers Found
- Apples & Oranges: Dietary Diversity
- Constructing a Cognitive Portfolio
And, for another reason to avoid high fructose corn syrup, see Mercury in Corn Syrup?
Suppressing cancer growth in a petri dish is nice—but what about within the human body? Wait until you see Strawberries vs. Esophageal Cancer and Black Raspberries vs. Oral Cancer. Hold on to your hats!
Check out my associated blog posts for even more context: Which Common Fruit Fights Cancer Better?; Anticancer Nutrient Synergy in Cranberries; and Raspberries Reverse Precancerous Lesions.
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