A recent report in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry has found that extracts from a Brazilian berry is capable of killing cancer cells.
The study came from the University of Florida and it showed that the self-destruct response was induced in up to 86% of Leukemia cells by this fruit.
The berry is called acai (pronounced ass-eye-eee). I have tasted acai, which I find to be not unpleasant, however, not my favourite either. I don’t think this study is going so far as to say that drinking the juice from a berry can cure cancer, just that in a lab environment, the extracts can kill cancer cells.
This kind of study is interesting and it falls into the category of “Natural Products Drug Discovery”, of which there are literally thousands of studies running worldwide.
There are two main ways in which people look for new drugs - either by using combinatorial chemistry or looking for natural products with beneficial effects. The most popular and most productive is the combinatorial chemistry approach, however, the alternative is not without its successes.
If these extracts from Acai prove to have some use in the fight against cancer, then the method of production is likely to be farming, although I could also see an attempt to isolate and produce the compound chemically. However, if the farming route was taken for this compound, then it is likely that it is seen to be a more ‘natural’ cure for cancer and therefore for many patients, this is preferable and also it would provide employment in agriculture.
That is if it proves to have merit in a clinical, rather than a laboratory setting.
6 users commented in " Brazilian Berry Kills Cancer Cells "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackI can’t really see the pharmaceutical companies opting for a farming method. They’re not exactly known for their social conscience…
Do you know where a gal can get her paws on such a berry in Ireland Doc?
I don’t know where a cat could get her paws on these berries, though there are a lot of brazilians in Ireland. I’m going over to teach there at the beginning of March and can bring you back a few cans of acai juice if you want.
I might just take you up on that,
I’m a green tea drinking tomato/spinach/blueberry/dark green vegetable/salt avoiding/alcohol lowering eater these days-even though I’m not necessarily a fan of this lifestyle just yet.
I eat almost no processed foods at all anymore and have become religious about wearing sun factor, even on cloudy days. Anything that fights against cancer I’m all for it. Screw you immortality* I’ll fight you tooth and nail!
Shakes fist towards startled cat.
Right-e-o, I’ll pop a couple of cans in the rucksack on the way back. You’ll live to be a hundred.
Thank you darling, you’re a peach.