CAN APPLE HELP TO PREVENT CANCER.....

 CAN APPLE HELP TO PREVENT CANCER.....

An apple a day may keep the oncologist away. A researcher at Cornell University has found that fruit, especially apples, substantially inhibit breast tumor growth. ”The apple is a magical fruit," says Rui Hai Liu, a professor of food science. The magic, he explain, lies in the apple's high concentration of phytochemicals, which pack many disease fighting properties.

Liu's research show that among rats fed apple extract during a 24-week stretch, a type of adenocarcinoma -the deadliest kind of breast cancer tumor-was less prevalentJ‘he more apple extract the rats received, the better: tumors were found in 57%of rats fed a low dose of apple extract, compared to 50% and 23% in rats given medium and high doses, respectively that's like a human eating one, three or six apples daily.

That's not to say we should be eating half a dozen apples a day, explain Liu, who received some funding from the U.S. Apple Association. One is enough, he says, as long as it's part of a diet that includes other fruit and vegetables.”Phytochemicals in fruit and vegetables work to help optimum nutrition,"he says. This assertion is backed up by other research. A 2007 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that " a diet high in vegetables and fruit probably decreases breast cancer risk.”

The 25 most popular fruit and vegetables in the U.S., apples are the source of 33.1% of the phenolic that American consume annually. That's more than any other fruit. Oranges (9.8%), grapes (12.8%), strawberries (9.8%) and plums (7.3%) round out the top five.

In the meantime, his best advice is for people to eat several fruits and vegetables every day to stave off disease. And there's one more incentive, "They're delicious."