Now that it's the season, don't miss the two summer fruits par excellence, plums and peaches. And do you know why? Because plums and peaches, more than any other fruit, are rich in two particular phenolic compounds that have been shown to counteract the development and growth of tumors, including breast cancer. This is what emerges from a research published in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry by an American team from Texas AgriLife Research (Noratto et al, Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2009).
Cellular degeneration and possible treatments
Science is constantly looking for new treatments and remedies to counteract cellular degeneration and at the same time save healthy cells, which are often targeted by the medicines currently used. The attention of Texan scientists has focused on two fruits that are particularly rich in antioxidants and which could help in the fight against cancer, peaches and plums. It emerged, from laboratory analysis, that plums have an antioxidant content similar to or even higher than that of blueberries. Not only that, all fruit brings two particular phenolic compounds, chlorogenic and neochlorogenic acid with anticancer properties. However, stone fruit has the highest amount of these substances. And among all the stone fruit, peaches and plums have been shown to have even a greater quantity of these substances. This is why American scientists have selected these two fruits to study their anticancer properties. In particular, the researchers chose to analyze the beneficial effects in case of breast cancer.
Peaches and plums against cancer
Following laboratory tests, it emerged that extracts of plums and peaches put in contact with breast cancer cells, even in the most aggressive variants, caused their death. Instead, the healthy cells were not touched by the action of these extracts. Scientists have been able to ascertain that this powerful antitumor action is due precisely to the chlorogenic acid and neochlorogenic acid present in these fruits. The study also analyzed the action of taking plum and peach extracts in animals. Well, even in this case, plums and peaches were able to block tumor growth.
Conclusions
While waiting for treatments based on chlorogenic and neochlorogenic acids to be developed, we can certainly include fruit, vegetables and drinks rich in these substances in our diet at the moment. Peaches and plums above all, but also apples, artichokes, carrots, coffee, aubergines, kiwis, tea and tomatoes.
