Singapore, Aug 28: Researchers in Singapore are studying the possibility that red apples, grapes and chillies can help fight breast cancer, the number one killer of women in the city-state, a news report said today. Certain chemicals prevalent in red-skinned fruits and vegetables may help in the battle against breast and possibly other types of cancer, the straits times quoted scientists at the National Cancer Centre as saying.
Associate professor Huynh The Hung, principal investigator at the Centre's molecular endocrinology laboratory, has been studying how natural compounds can be used to combat breast cancer, which kills 250 Singaporean women yearly.
In mice implanted with human breast and prostate tumors, the cancers grew at only one-quarter of the normal speed when the animals were fed with phytochemicals, substances which occur naturally in plants.
The tumors also shrank over time, compared to a control group of mice which succumbed to cancer in a few months, the report added.
The researchers hope that phytochemicals can be used in combination with current anti-cancer drugs.
"All drugs currently used to combat cancer have some toxic side-effects. If we can lower the amount of drugs needed, then it will reduce (the side effects)," Huynh told the daily.
Bureau Report