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Posted on Apr 25, 2011, 6 a.m.
Eating strawberries may be a way to help people at-risk of esophageal cancer protect themselves from the disease.
Esophageal cancer is the third most common gastrointestinal cancer and the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world, and the predominant form (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma) has a very poor survival rate. Tong Chen, from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (Ohio, USA), and colleagues engaged 36 study participants who consumed 60 grams (about two ounces) of freeze-dried strawberries daily for six months. The researchers obtained biopsy specimens before and after the strawberry consumption. The results showed that 29 out of 36 participants experienced a decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesions during the study. The team comments that: "We concluded from this study that six months of strawberry treatment is safe and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that strawberries … reduced cancer-related molecular events.”
Fei Yan, Huaji Guan, Jiaming Qian, Guiqi Wang, Ning Lu, Hongbing Zhang, Mingzhou Guo, Lian Li, Yanli Zeng, Xiaoming Wang, Gary D. Stoner, Tong Chen. “Investigation on chemopreventive effect of lyophilized strawberries in human subjects with precancerous lesions in esophagus: a phase 1b study in China” [Abstract # LB-465/27]. Presented at American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) 102nd Annual Meeting 2011, April 6, 2011.
