There is an active ingredient in blueberries that kills cancer cells. According to Chi Ming Lee who published an article about recent research on this active ingredient at the US National Library of Medicine at the National Institute of Health, the active ingredient in blueberries that can kill cancer cells is the blueberry isolate called pterostilbene.
Pterostilbene ((trans-3,5-dimethoxy-4′-hydroxystilbene) according to the article by Chi Ming Lee is active in arresting cancer cell development in lung, liver, breast and pancreatic cancers.
According to the article, pterostilbene with a half-life is “seven times longer than resveratrol ” indicating “105 min versus 14 min.” This difference gives pterostilbene gives pterostilbene a 95% bioavailability as opposed to only 20% bioavailability for resveratrol. Resveratrol is a previously know compound that has been reported to kill cancer cells.
What is pterostilbene?
Joanne Cosgrove in her article entitled, “What is Pterostilbene?” states that pterostilbene “belongs to the phytoalexin class of compounds’ found in in berries such as “blueberries, cranberries, lingonberries and grapes.
The difference between resveratrol, found mainly in grapes and pterostilbene, found mainly in blueberries is that resveratrol has three hydroxl groups whereas pterostilbene has only one hydroxyl group and two methoxys.
The difference between resveratrol, found mainly in grapes and pterostilbene, found mainly in blueberries is that resveratrol has three hydroxl groups whereas pterostilbene has only one hydroxyl group and two methoxys.
Without the methoxy groups, resveratrol is not as oil-soluble as pterostilbene, so the cellular uptake of pterostilbene is much greater than the cellular uptake of resveratrol, making the pterostilbene the much more potent cancer-killing compound.
Since pterostilbene is found mainly in blueberries, blueberries have become one of the best foods to eat for anyone trying to prevent or cure cancer. Many of the health food companies are now producing and marketing both pterostilbene and reveratrol supplements. Much more research is however needed to understand the true benefits of the powerful effects of pterostilbene in blueberries.
Why eat blueberries?
According to studies done by USDA, the University of Illinois, and the Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Centre on Aging at Tufts, the number one antioxidant food out of 40 fruits and vegetables studied was blueberries. Besides the active cancer-killing ingredient, pterostilbene, blueberries are high in vitamin C and fiber. In one serving or cup of blueberries there are 83.68 calories and 83 calories of frozen blueberries. Vitamins A, calcium, iron and potassium are also found in blueberries.
Wild blueberries
Researchers studied wild blueberries, cultivated blueberries and European blueberries with the findings that wild blueberries “exhibited some of the greatest anti-cancer activity of all blueberries examined.
According to research at USDA and the the University of Illinois, wild blueberries contain the highest antioxidant properties of any fruit or vegetable studied.
DNA molecules damaged by the “negative by-products of metabolism called free radicals” can be neutralized by the high levels of anti-oxidants in wild blueberries. Anti-oxidants “counteract environmental carginogens, protect against cardiovascular disease, fight sun damage” and the negative effects of Alzheimers’s and other diseases.
In conclusion, eating blueberries can lower your cancer risk by killing cancer cells. Pterostilbenne is the main cancer-fighting ingredient in blueberries. Wild blueberries prove the very best anti-oxidant berry that fights many diseases.
