Strawberry jam billed as latest cure for cancer

Tuesday, 14th October 2008

Written by Francesca Cookney

Strawberry, raspberry, apricot – the flavour doesn't actually matter, the key is in the fruit that goes to make up the jam or jelly.

Scientists at the Institute of Food Research announced this week that pectin, a natural fibre found in fruit and vegetables, can slow the growth of cancer. Jam contains a modified form of this pectin on account of the way in which the fruit is processed and this releases a molecular fragment which can halt the progression of cancer.

The benefits of pectin have been known for some time, with supplements already available on the internet but when American scientists discovered that exposing prostate cancer cells to pectin powder or heat-treated pectin resulted in a 40 per cent destruction of these cells, it looked as through they were on to something big.

The modified pectin causes the cancer cells to 'commit suicide' through a natural process called apoptosis and was also found to be effective for lung and colon cancers when tested on rats. Time for some toast, I think.

According to the British Nutrition Foundation, 15g of jam on a slice of bread provides around 40 calories and is already recommended as the ideal post-workout snack. That said, all fruit and veg contains pectin and as Professor Vic Morris, author of the most recent study in this area, points out, "it might be better to get the same protection from fruit and vegetables which would give you other anti-cancer magic bullets as well."

The full research by Professor Morris is published in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal.

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