If you haven’t read the news about blackberries yet, surely you will soon. Black raspberry is proving to be an even greater anti-inflammatory agent than the long attested blueberry.
Scientists from Ohio and Kentucky State Universities jointly conducted a study in 20 patients with precancerous oral lesions using only freeze-dried berries and KY gelatin. They had the patients apply it to the lesions four times a day for six weeks. Several of the patients reversed their condition, and more than half showed significant improvement.
This would be a real breakthrough given that the majority of patients diagnosed with oral cancer – about 80 diagnoses a day in the US according to the American Cancer Society – typically end up looking disfigured even after plastic surgery with currently available treatments. .
One Kentucky company, Four Tigers, which grows blackberries, thinks it would certainly be a turnaround if Kentucky went from a state that relies heavily on its tobacco products for revenue, to one that produces a cancer-fighting crop. .
Russell Mumper, vice president and associate professor of pharmaceutical sciences in the UK, also carried out a preliminary test on colon cancer cells. An extract of blackberry was introduced into colonies of colon cancer cells in vitro. Usually. These types of cells almost double daily. The extract was found to stop the growth of these colon cancer cells.
The same berry solution also showed promise in slowing the growth of skin cancer in mice.
A larger trial involving several different cancer centers is planned, and a gel product is undergoing final-stage approvals with the possibility of being available in stores in a year or two.
If the preliminaries are any indication of things to come for blackberries, I see it as one more natural product to add to your list of cancer-fighting agents that everyone should include in their diets. This is one that would definitely not be hard to swallow!
