apoptosis

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and

National Cancer Institute

(click on image)

Spoon yourself some health!

Eating more colorful whole foods really matters!

Strawberries (Fragaria vesca), among the world's

most popular foods

Apoptosis

pronounced "eh-poh-toe-sis"
defined as the natural rate of cells dying off, like the normal turnover of intestinal bacteria or skin cells
if accelerated by a drug or natural compound acting specifically on cancer cells, an increased rate of apoptosis would be favorable for causing cancer cells to die faster
apoptosis research on cancer cells is actively being explored using different berry species

Blueberries (Vaccinium corymbosum L.) contain polyphenols that

(in lab experiments) stimulate cancer cells to increase their rate of apoptosis

Strange facts about apoptosis

different from necrosis which is a form of cell death resulting from acute cell injury

apoptosis confers advantages during an organism's life cycle (except in the case of cancer cells)

example, differentiation of fingers and toes in a developing fetus occurs because cells between the fingers apoptose; the result is that the digits separate

between 50 billion and 70 billion cells die each day due to apoptosis in the average human adult

for an average child between the ages of 8 and 14, approximately 20 billion to 30 billion cells die a day

in a year, this amounts to loss of a mass of cells from apoptosis mechanisms equal to an individual's total body weight

What berry compounds may do

to stimulate apoptosis in cancer cells

induce apoptosis via several biochemical pathways
alter gene expression
decrease tumor initiation, promotion, and progression signals
produce anti-inflammatory activity through modulation of enzymes (inflammation mechanisms may be part of how cancer starts)
induce apoptosis in immune cells made dysfunctional by nearby cancer cells

Red and black raspberries (here, Rubus idaeus) induce

apoptosis of cancer cells in lab experiments