Go for the Bright Colors

A Science Daily article entitled Compounds That Color Fruits And Veggies May Protect Against Colon Cancer, provides details about a linkage already known to nutritionists. Richly colored fruits and vegetables are good for you. The reason? Compounds known as anthocyanins which account for red, purple and blue found in these foods. There is now scientific data supporting the belief that anthocyanins slow the growth of colon cancer cells. The reason colon cells, as opposed to other cell types, are specially protected may lie in the fact that anthocyanins travel through the gastrointestinal tract but are not greatly absorbed into the bloodstream.

Monica Giusti, the lead author of a related study and an assistant professor of food science at Ohio State University, explained the findings. Researchers found that slightly altered anthocyanin molecules showed significant anti-cancer activity. Anthocyanins also come in many varieties and there will be much more information about them resulting from future research projects. Researchers used anthocyanin extract from different plants to test their relative potency in reducing cancer cell growth. Purple corn was found to be the most potent with chokeberry and bilberry extracts close runners up. Another piece of encouraging news was that purple corn and chokeberry pigments were found to kill 20 per cent of cancer cells while completely stopping the growth of others. Esophageal and colon cancer tumors may also be reduced by black raspberries according to other Ohio State researchers.

Anthocyanins have already been used as food dyes but research suggests that replacing synthetic dyes with them would make much sense from a health perspective.