Apple a day, keeps colon cancer away

Does apple help health or is it a myth? Can it help against cancer? Do apple pectin and juice extract produce anticarcinogens during the fermentation in the colon? The answer seems to be yes.

Dr. Waldecker and colleagues in the journal Nutrition 2008 studied the fermentation supernatants from incubation of human fecal slurry with apple pectin and apple juice extracts. The Inhibition of the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC) seems to play a central role in these anticancer effects. The authors found that  fecal slurry from fermentations with pectin was rich in butyrate and very active in HDAC inhibition in colon tumor cell lines.

The HDAC-inhibitory potency from pectin-rich fermentations correlated with the butyrate levels. Fecal slurry from fermentations with apple juice extract had lower butyrate yields but similar HDAC inhibition and potentially similar anticarcinogenic effect.

This is how it works: Apple fermentation leads to increase in short chain fatty acids like butyrate. Butyrate is a chemopreventive metabolite that can prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer. The mechanism is via inhibition of histone deacetylase leading to retarding the carcinogensis, the process of tumor formation.

The authors concluded that apple products exert anticarginogenic effects in the colon.

What are your thoughts about fruit in general and apple in particular? Are you going to go more for fruits or apples in the grocery store? Please share your thoughts.