Purple produce power A few years ago, Dr. Wright wrote about BEC5, an extract taken from eggplant that can literally cure cases of skin cancer (see the December 2005 issue of Nutrition & Healing). Now researchers have found two more purple produce items that have anti-cancer effects on the skin: grapes and blackberries. In one study, researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham studied two groups of hairless mice. One was fed a diet high in substances from grape seeds called proanthocyanids (GSPs). The other group was fed a regular control diet. Then the researchers exposed all the mice to ultraviolet light. They found that the GSP-supplemented mice had 65 percent fewer skin tumors than the control group. And the tumors that did develop in the GSP group were 78 percent smaller than those in the control mice. In another study, researchers at Ohio State's College of Medicine exposed mice to UVB radiation three times per week for 25 weeks. They treated one group of mice with a gel containing freeze-dried black raspberry powder, while another group got a raspberry-free gel. The researchers found that the raspberry group had half the number of tumors found in the control group, and the ones that did develop were smaller and slower-growing. While the research teams in both studies were quick to warn people against trying these remedies at home, there's really no harm in increasing your intake of grapes and black raspberries. Both are high in antioxidants, which likely explains at least some of their anti-skin cancer properties. And even if those effects aren't quite as strong as they might be if you were using the condensed extracts, increasing your fruit intake is a good thing all on its own. Nutrition & Healing Source: "Fruit: The New Defense Against Skin Cancer?" Fox News (www.foxnews.com), 4/27/07 | 
