Health benefits of cranberries

[COUNTRYBUMPKIN]

Cancer-Fighting Cranberries
Dr. Michael Greger

Cranberries, one of only three commonly-eaten fruits native to North
America, have been shown to exert a wide variety of health benefits
including the prevention of urinary tract infections.[22] In 2002,
researchers dripped a number of fruit extracts on human liver cancer
cells in a Petri dish to see if any of them would slow down tumor
growth. Out of the near dozen common fruits they tried, the most
potent inhibitor of cancer growth was cranberries.[23] So in 2003,
researchers pitted cranberries against three other types of human
cancers--breast, cervical and prostate--and the cranberries won
again, significantly restraining cancer cell proliferation.[24] Now
UCLA researchers are back, this time testing cranberries against a
whole panel of 9 different human cancer cell lines.

Sprinkling just a few millionths of a gram of powdered cranberries on
human oral, colon and prostate cancer cells brought their growth to a
screeching halt, inhibiting their proliferation as much as 99.6%. The
researchers concluded "The observed antiproliferative activities of
cranberry phytochemicals against tumor cells provide some basic
evidence for the potential anticancer effects of cranberry
polyphenols and suggest that studies of cranberry extracts should be
carried out... ultimately in human cancer prevention trials."[25]

What do you do with cranberries though (other than sauce, that is)?
Check out
http://vegweb.com/recipes/fruit/inde...nberries.shtml
for some healthy cranberry recipes. I'm sipping some blended into my
flax smoothie right now as I type.

[Ellise]

Thanks