It’s a fantastic tongue twister and a compelling endorsement of colourful food: purple potatoes pack powerful cancer prevention punch, say Pennsylvania professors.
Experiments conducted at Penn State University have shown that baked purple potatoes suppress the development of colon cancer tumours in Petri dishes and in mice.
The results demonstrated that chemicals in the potatoes target cancer stem cells.
Aram Vanamala, an associate professor of food sciences at Penn State, said attacking cancer stem cells is critical in disease prevention.
“You might want to compare cancer stem cells to roots of the weeds,” Vanamala said.
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“You may cut the weed, but as long as the roots are still there, the weeds will keep growing back and, likewise, if the cancer stem cells are still present, the cancer can still grow and spread.”
In a paper published in the Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, Vanamala and his colleagues said cancer stem cells are responsible for the initiation and progression of tumours in a variety of cancers.
The Penn State scientists said a number of substances in purple potatoes, including anthocyacins and cholorogenic acid, suppress colon cancer stem cells.
“Potatoes, including purple potatoes, contain resistant starch, which serves as a food for the gut bacteria, that the bacteria can covert to beneficial short-chain fatty acids such as butyric acid,” Vanamala said in a statement.
“The butyric acid regulates immune function in the gut, suppresses chronic inflammation and may also help to cause cancer cells to self-destruct.”
The Penn State researchers said baked purple potatoes could potentially be used in general cancer prevention and help patients in remission remain free of cancer.
Based on the mouse studies, humans would have to eat one large purple potato per day to get the necessary dose of beneficial compounds.
The scientists plan to test purple potatoes on other forms of cancer and evaluate its ability to prevent cancer in human trials.
There is good news for people who dislike purple potatoes. The Penn State researchers said chemicals that give purple potatoes their vibrant colour may be present in other fruits and vegetables.
“When you eat from the rainbow, instead of one compound, you have thousands of compounds working on different pathways to suppress the growth of cancer stem cells,” said Vanamala.
“Because cancer is such a complex disease, a silver bullet approach is just not possible for most cancers.”
Contact robert.arnason@producer.com
