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Acai Berry and Cancer: Examining the Univeristy of Florida Leukemia Study

By: ABG Distribution

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A quick Google search for acai berry and cancer reveals a world of confusing information from a mixture of dubious and credible sources. I certainly don't want to add to that confusion. Instead, what I thought I'd do at least once per month is to translate an important research paper into layman's terms. As a former college chemistry professor, I'd like to think that demystifying technical subjects is one of my strengths.

Today I'm focusing on the 2006 paper in the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry named Acai Polyphenolics in their Glycoside and Aglycone Forms Induce Apoptosis of HL-60 Leukemia Cells by David Del Pozo-Insfran, Susan S Percival and Stephen T Talcott of the University of Florida Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition. These links will take you to the original sources:

Acai and Leukemia from Univerisity of Florida and University of Florida's acai and leukemia cells press release

This paper summarizes the ability of whole acai berry extracts to kill a certain type of human leukemia cell in a lab setting (not inside the body). Research almost always begins with cell-culture models. HL-60 is very specific type of human leukemia cell line. When a scientist wants to do research on leukemia, they don't just draw blood from a cancer patient, rather they get their test cells from a numbered cell line such as HL-60. This ensures that the test cells are standardized and the results can be replicate later by another lab.

This study wanted to test the whole acai berry and some of its constituent parts. At the time this study was published that authors state that over 50% of the thousands of compounds in an acai berry are unknown. (Dr. Alex Schauss and team have since documented the full composition of the acai). In order to test some of the different components of acai, the team used solubility to create different fractions. Here is how that works. Supposed that acai berry has only 6 underlying components A B C D E and F. Now supposed you mash it up and divide it into 3 containers. In the first container you add water, the second container you add vegetable oil and the third container you add alcohol. In each case some of the mashed up acai will dissolve in the liquid. Let's suppose this is what happens:

* Water B, C and F dissolve
* Oil A and D dissolve
* Alcohol A and F dissolve

You now have 3 different fractions to test against the leukemia. Notice that E isn't in any of the fractions and that A and F are both in two different fractions. It is very much a puzzle. You create lots of different fractions in hopes of narrowing down which components of the acai are responsible for the cell death.

The team also wanted to test the metabolites of A, B, C, D, E and F. When the acai berry hits the stomach, the acid environment will immediately begin breaking down some of the components into new molecules lets call them A, C and E. It is very interesting to test these for biological activity because maybe the original acai doesn't contain any components active against cancer and it is only in the interaction with the stomach acid that they are formed. It is often hard to separate out the impact of the original foods from its metabolites. (This is the hot debate in research around resveratrol. Once it hits the stomach it breaks down rapidly.)

Finally the University of Florida team wanted to test different concentrations of each fraction so they diluted them to different levels. Now they have lots of fractions of the original acai berry extract in different concentrations and lots of concentrations of the acid-hydroloyzed versions to test.

The test fractions are combined with HL-60 human leukemia in a petri-dish and the team observes what percent of the cells die across time. The findings are truly remarkable.

* Every single fraction showed some anti-cancer activity
* Two separate fractions (III and V in the paper) killed 82% of leukemia cells within 24 hours
* When the team diluted fractions III and V by factor of 100 (1 part sample to 100 parts water) they still killed 50% of leukemia cells in 24 hours.
* 100% of the killing effects was obtained after 4 hours although they continued to monitor for 24 hours.
* The full acai berry sample performed well, but not as well as fractions III or V alone although it contained everything in III and everything in V.

OK, so maybe I got a little technical with that explanation, but I think it is important to highlight the complexity of food science research. As much as we know about biochemistry and disease, we still cannot pinpoint which components of certain foods are responsible for certain biological activity. In many cases there is a synergistic effect (the whole is better than the some of its parts) and in some cases an antagonistic effect (one part is better than the whole). The answer in the meantime is lots of variety. A little bit of everything. All of MonaVie's juice products are packed with acai and 18 other fruits. It is just good sense to not try to outsmart Mother Nature, but rather get a little bit of everything.

I personally find these lab results against leukemia very thrilling. 82% death in 4 hours? That's awesome. If you could get even a portion of that effect inside the body, you'd be giving your body an edge in the fight against cancer. Those of us that don't have cancer can continue to watch the new research every year as we try to narrow in on cures. Hopefully you appreciate your health enough to realize that prevention is the best bet.

People suffering from cancer now should be made aware of any laboratory, animal or human study that may be relevant or promising. This is not to give false hope. It is not to spread hype and misinformation or to make a dollar at their expense. It is to provide options. Acai berry is one such option with the risk/reward stacked high in its favor. What's the risk? Its a fruit that native people in the rain forest have eaten for centuries. What's the reward? (You fill in the blank)

If you know someone suffering from cancer, please bookmark, tweet or email this to them. Knowledge is power

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