March 26, 2007 

"Blueberries tackle bowel cancer" reads a recent headline on the BBC News website.
The article goes on to quote a recent study that shows how an antioxidant in blueberries, pterostilbene  can help prevent colon cancer in rats. Pterostilbene is also found in grapes and is similar to the well known antioxidant, resveratrol - a valuable antioxidant found in grapes, red wine, several types of berry and some other plants.

Should we be surprised and excited by this result?
Surprised – no.
Excited – yes.

The reason that I am not surprised by this finding is because it is well known that many antioxidants have been shown to help prevent cancer of the colon. Blueberries are probably the richest fruit source antioxidants (including, vitamin E, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, glucosides, isoeugenol methionene, myrcene, myristicin, phenol and resveratrol) and pterostilbene is only one of them.

Some of the authors of the original research suggest that pterostilbene should be "put in a pill". It really does not make much sense to extract one antioxidant from a fruit that contains many other antioxidants and other phytonutrients in an attempt to provide an expensive "anti-cancer" pill.

However this research is exciting because it adds to the growing body of evidence that show many plant compounds there are that can help to fight cancer and other degenerative diseases.

The solution is not to extract one or two of these compounds and provide them in pill form. On the contrary, we need to eat a wide variety of fruit, spices and vegetables so that we can benefit from the full range of antioxidants and other beneficial compounds that they provide.

A good way to get a balanced intake of the best antioxidants and other important plant compounds is to take a spice supplement .

References:
Clinical Cancer Research 2007 Jan 1;13(1):350-5.