Red wine and dark chocolate cancer killers: researcher
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Cabernet and chocolate are potent medicine for killing cancer, according to research presented here Wednesday.
Red grapes and dark chocolate join blueberries, garlic, soy, and teas as ingredients that starve cancer while feeding bodies, Angiogenesis Foundation head William Li said at a prestigious TED Conference.
"We are rating foods based on their cancer-fighting qualities," Li said. "What we eat is really our chemotherapy three times a day."
The Massachusetts-based foundation is identifying foods containing chemicals that evidently choke-off blood supplies to tumors, starving them to death.
Li cited a Harvard Medical School study showing that men who ate cooked tomatoes several times weekly were 30 to 50 percent less likely to have prostate cancer.
"There is a medical revolution happening all around us," Li said. "If we're right, it could impact on consumer education, food service, public health, and even insurance agencies."
About a dozen drugs are already in use to deprive tumors of blood supplies in a treatment tactic called "anti-angiogenesis.
The foundation pitted some foods against approved drugs and found that soy, parsley, red grapes, berries and other comestibles were either as effective or more potent in battling cancer cells.
Eaten together, the foods were even more effective in fighting cancer.
"We discovered that Mother Nature laced a large number of foods and herbs with anti-angiogenesis features," Li said.
"For many people around the world, dietary cancer treatment may be the only solution because not everyone can afford cancer drugs."
The foundation also discovered that anti-angiogenesis properties of foods melt away fat, which relies heavily on blood flow to sustain itself.
Tests showed that mice genetically prone to be chubby could be trimmed to average mouse size using the approach.
"It got weight down to a set point for normal mice," Li said. "In other words, we can't create supermodel mice."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments