Citrus

      Citrus, in general, contains flavonoids, limonoids, terpenes and coumarins, all anticarcinogens.
      Fructose, the sugar found in fruit, reduces body phosphate levels. Elevated phosphate raises levels of 1,25-(OH)2D, a chemical that's been linked to both enlarged prostate and prostate cancer.


Oranges

      As Dr. Herbert Pierson, former director of the National Cancer Institute's Designer Foods Program noted:

      "The juice of four oranges may contain 10 different major phytochemicals that are absorbed into the blood and can be measured. That these molecules have antimutagenic activity, anticarcingenic activity, cholesterol-lowering activity and anti-inflammatory activity is well-known."
[Limonene, extracted from orange peels, has been shown to shrink tumors in rats by Duke U. and U. of Wisconsin researchers.]

      "Flavonoids have been studied in animals against powerful chemcal carcinogens...methyl nitroso urea (MNU), for exmple, is a chemical that causes breast cancer in mice and rats. Flavonoids intercept the MNU before it hits the target in the cells, sort of like Superman flying to the rescue and stopping the meteorite before it hits the earth."

    Dr. Maurice R. Bennick of Michigan State U. found that animals who drank orange juice for seven months were 22 percent less likely to develop early colon cancer than animals given water. Limonoids in the juice are believed to alter characteristics of the colon lining, stopping cancer growth. Dr. Bennick believes orange juice may also help supress breast, prostate and lung cancer.

      Elzbieta Kurowska, PhD., lead author of a study from the U. of Western Ontario (presented at the Nov. '99 meeting of the American Heart Association in Atlanta), reports that three glasses of orange juice/day increased the HDL of 25 subjects by 21 percent within four weeks.
      She believes the effect is due to the flavonoid, hesperidin (which is contained in both fresh-squeezed and from-concentrate juice).
      All 25 volunteers had high cholesterol at the outset, and stopped taking cholesterol-lowering drugs and any vitamins and supplements. Oe glass/day of juice was taken in the first month, two in the second, and three during the third. Fasting blood samles were taken at regular intervals and during a five-week, no-juice "washout" period. The positive effects lasted throught the washout period (although vitamin C levels declined).

      Average flavonoid intake among the participants was only about one-fourth of a typical American's consumption of the chemical.
      Flavonoids may also "mop up" toxins formed post oxygen-cholesterol interaction.

      Tangerines contain the flavonoids tangeretin and nobiletin, which inhibited the growth of prostate cancer in vitro.

      Additionally, fruit fiber helps speed food through the digestive tract, and produces acids that act as a buffer agaist cancerous cells that try to attack the walls of the bowel.
      Fiber also changes the chemica makeup of the intestines so harmful bacteria can't survive long.

      [A study from the U. of Toronto, involving 15,000 men and women indicated that eating at least 27 gms. of fiber daily reduced the risk of colon and rectal cancer by 26 percent.]

Blueberries

      In aged animals, blueberry consumption is associated with reversal of memory loss, restored motor coordination (running faster, walking longer) and balance, and age-related macular degeneration, glacoma and cataracts.
      These effects occur with ingested amounts roughly equivalent to about half a cup/day for humans.
[ Jour. of Neuroscience, 9/15/99; Drs. Barbara Shukitt-Hale, James Joseph, coauthors, Agriculture Dept.'s Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging, Tufts U. ]

      Dr. Joseph (who drinks an am protein/bluberry shake/day):
  "Motor behavior is one of the first things to go as you age. There is virtually nothing out there (other than bluberries) that can change motor behavior in aging...what people need to remember is the multiple action of the chemicals in plant foods. It's not just about antioxidant or anti-inflammatory properties. Eating the fruits and vegetables or grains guarantees you will get the health benefits."

      The antioxidant anthocyannins (which provide pigment) and polyphenols are believed to be responsible for blueberry's effects.
      A 1994 study at Brigham and Women's Hosp. in Boston (financed by Ocean Spray), conducted with 153 ederly women (who drank 10 oz./day of cranberry beverage for six months), found that those expose to proanthocyanidins were half as likely to have bacteria in their blood (a sign of infection) as those who drank a placebo.
      Studies from Rutgers have demonstrated that blueberries are as effective as cranberries in helping to prevent urinary tract infections.

      Blueberries also contain condensed tannins, that keep the bacteria respnsible for urinary tract infection from adhering to the bladder wall.
      Dr. Mary Ellen Camire, PhD., associate professor in the dept. of food science and human nutrition at the U. of Maine in Orono, notes that "there is a long history of using dried bluberries for (medicinal purposes)..."

MotherNature

      Bob and Janet Underwood, owners of "Underwood Fruit" in Traverse City, Mich., sell tablet and chewable wafer supplemets ("Cherry Rich/Blueberry Rich") that deliver 25 mlligrams of wild blueberry and cherry antioxidants per serving.

Raspberries

      According to Dr. Daniel Nixon, president of the American Health Foundation in Valhall, NY, the ellagic acid in raspberries can kill cancer cells by affecting their ability to grow.
      Raspberries contain more of the compound than any other food, and the highest concentration is in the leaves. Thus raspberry tea may prove to be a potent anti-carcinogen.
      Susan Harlander, research and development director for Land O' Lakes Inc., in Minnepolis:
      "Administered as a drug, ellagic acid prevents esophagus, liver, skin and lung cancer in rats and mice."


Grapes

      French scientist Jack Masqulier, professor emeritus of the U. of Bordeaux, says research shows that grape chemicals (flavonoids, phenols and proanthocyanidins) help thin the blood, detoxify LDL cholesterol, strengthen blood vessels, boost immunity, fight allergies and inhibit cancer.

      Researchers at the U. of South Florida College of Medicine discovered that something in grape skins (thought to be due to quercetin and tannic acid) relaxes and dilates arteries, and thus may help ward off the high blood pressure and vascular spasms that trigger heart attack and stroke.
      Most powerful: red grapes and purple grape juice, and red wine (white grapes and wite grape juice relaxed the arteries, but white wine did not.