Berry juice shrinks prostate tumours in rats

Berry juice shrinks prostate tumours in rats
7th December 2007,


A cocktail of exotic berry juices has been found to slow the growth of tumours in mice with prostate cancer, Australian scientists say.

Researchers at the University of Sydney are moving to test the commercially available juice concentrate on humans after good results in the laboratory.

The team found they could reduce the size of tumours by 25 per cent using Blueberry Punch, an antioxidant cocktail containing more than a dozen extracts, including berries, citrus, grapes, olives and herbs.

The product is based on foods recognised to have antioxidant qualities and similar attributes to non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Dr Jas Sing from the ANZAC Research Institute and Dr Qihan Dong from the Bosch Institute studied the effect of the beverage on both cancer cell cultures and mouse models that mimic human prostate cancer.

“After 72 hours exposure to increasing concentrations of Blueberry Punch, prostate cancer cells showed a dose-dependent reduction in size and viability when compared with untreated cells,” Dr Sing said.

“After feeding mice a 10 per cent solution of the punch for two weeks, we found the tumours in these mice were 25 per cent smaller than those found in mice that only drank tap water.”