According to a new study, the scientists revealed that intake of cup of cranberries daily can fight off colon cancer.

"Colon cancer may offer a particularly good target for a dietary treatment. Cranberry extracts may also afford protection toward other cancers," said Catherine Neto from University of Massachusetts, Dartmouth.

To reach this conclusion, researchers fed cranberry extracts to mice with colon cancer and found that their tumours diminished in size and number. After 20 weeks, the mice given the whole cranberry extract had about half the number of tumors as mice that had received no cranberry in their chow. The remaining tumors in the cranberry-fed mice were also smaller. Plus, the cranberry extracts seemed to reduce the levels of inflammation markers in the mice.

The lead researcher Neto is now looking deeper into the cranberry to see if she can isolate individual components responsible for its anti-cancer properties.

The findings are due to be presented at the 250th National Meeting and Exposition of the American Chemical Society.  

By Lizitha