Blueberry Polyphenol may inhibit colon cancer

Researchers from Rutgers University in collaboration with researchers from the USDA and Oklahoma State University gave a group of rats azoxymethane; a chemical that has a powerful ability to cause colon cancer in laboratory animals. The process resembles the onset of human colon cancer and the chemical is used to measure the protective effects of diets, drugs, and other agents.

Immediately the rats were split into two groups; one received a balanced diet and the other received the same diet with the addition of the blueberry polyphenol Pterostilbene at 40 parts per million (a very small amount) for 8 weeks. Pterostilbene (pronounced ?tero-STILL-bean?) is created out of the small amount of Resveratrol in Blueberries. Pterostilbene decreased the number of early stage precancerous lesions in the colon by 57% as well as decreasing the activity of genes that trigger colonic inflammation; a risk for colon cancer. The study was presented at the 233 National meeting of the American Chemical Society on March 26th 2007.