Plants That Protect Us
Do you believe in guardian angels?
Some people certainly do; for example, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, reportedly believed that her paternal grandmother — Cynthia, Countess Spencer — was her guardian angel. And judging from the number of bumper stickers I see that make references to guardian angels, someone must believe in them, at least a little bit!
Personally, I'm not sure about guardian angels... but scientific research is revealing that there definitely are natural forces in the world that help keep us from harm. These are called "phytochemicals" — in other words, chemicals from plants.
I've written previously about the power of antioxidants, which are natural substances in plants that help our bodies defuse other, less beneficial natural products called free radicals. Our bodies actually manufacture these free radicals, which then go around attacking our artery walls and other body parts. But certain foods, such as blueberries, strawberries and kale, contain high levels of antioxidants which are tremendously effective at beating down the free radicals.
Now there's more amazing news from the scientists of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) about phytochemicals: It turns out that some of these substances even have the power to combat cancer.
And you don't have to go to the highest peaks of the Himalayas, or delve into the deepest, darkest parts of the Amazon rainforest, to harvest some rare plant and painstakingly extract these protective substances. The phytochemicals in question are found in rosemary, that fragrant herb that enlivens dishes ranging from roast chicken to snack crackers; turmeric, a key ingredient in curry dishes; and familiar fruits such as strawberries, grapes and blueberries.
In tests at ARS' Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif., the scientists have shown that these natural compounds were able — in test tubes — to kill cells of a childhood cancer known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). When ALL strikes, malignant, immature white bloods cells multiply in droves inside bone marrow, crowding out the normal cells in the bone marrow.
The ARS scientists first reported in 2006 about the ability of carnosol from rosemary; curcumin from turmeric; resveratrol from grapes; and ellagic acid, kaempferol and quercetin from strawberries to kill the leukemia cells. The scientists have made these discoveries using laboratory cultures of both healthy human blood cells and cancerous ones.
The scientists are still digging out the full details of how phytochemicals bolster healthy cells and battle harmful ones. But the more recent studies have provided new clues about how the phytochemicals attack the cancer cells.
The scientists have found, for example, that the phytochemicals interfere with the normal functioning of mitochondria, which are structures — two sets of membranes, to be precise — that are found inside cells and are the principal energy source of the cell. The mitochondria convert nutrients into energy, as well as carrying out an assortment of other specialized tasks. Without energy, cells die.
The ARS scientists discovered that when they exposed mitochondria to resveratrol and other phytochemicals, the mitochondria couldn't function properly. But more studies are needed to understand fully how the phytochemicals pulled off that trick. The ARS scientists also want to explore the other ways that phytochemicals manage to kill cells.
In a related study, the ARS scientists have also shown for the first time that some component of table grapes prevented the progression of type 1 diabetes in mice and increased their survival, compared with diabetic mice that weren't fed the grapes.
In the experiments, grapes in the form of a freeze-dried powder made up about 1 percent of the chow fed to some of the mice. That would be the human equivalent of about six servings of grapes per day.
This was apparently the first experiment to show a link between eating grapes and preventing progression of type 1 diabetes. According to the National Institutes of Health, about one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents in the United States has type 1 diabetes.
Right now, the scientists don't know which grape compounds provided the protective effect. But their work certainly holds promise for possible new options for protection against this chronic autoimmune disease.
You'll want to stay tuned on this story!
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.
Do you believe in guardian angels?
Some people certainly do; for example, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, reportedly believed that her paternal grandmother — Cynthia, Countess Spencer — was her guardian angel. And judging from the number of bumper stickers I see that make references to guardian angels, someone must believe in them, at least a little bit!
Strawberries. (Photo by Brian Prechtel)
I've written previously about the power of antioxidants, which are natural substances in plants that help our bodies defuse other, less beneficial natural products called free radicals. Our bodies actually manufacture these free radicals, which then go around attacking our artery walls and other body parts. But certain foods, such as blueberries, strawberries and kale, contain high levels of antioxidants which are tremendously effective at beating down the free radicals.
Now there's more amazing news from the scientists of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS) about phytochemicals: It turns out that some of these substances even have the power to combat cancer.
And you don't have to go to the highest peaks of the Himalayas, or delve into the deepest, darkest parts of the Amazon rainforest, to harvest some rare plant and painstakingly extract these protective substances. The phytochemicals in question are found in rosemary, that fragrant herb that enlivens dishes ranging from roast chicken to snack crackers; turmeric, a key ingredient in curry dishes; and familiar fruits such as strawberries, grapes and blueberries.
In tests at ARS' Western Human Nutrition Research Center in Davis, Calif., the scientists have shown that these natural compounds were able — in test tubes — to kill cells of a childhood cancer known as acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). When ALL strikes, malignant, immature white bloods cells multiply in droves inside bone marrow, crowding out the normal cells in the bone marrow.
The ARS scientists first reported in 2006 about the ability of carnosol from rosemary; curcumin from turmeric; resveratrol from grapes; and ellagic acid, kaempferol and quercetin from strawberries to kill the leukemia cells. The scientists have made these discoveries using laboratory cultures of both healthy human blood cells and cancerous ones.
The scientists are still digging out the full details of how phytochemicals bolster healthy cells and battle harmful ones. But the more recent studies have provided new clues about how the phytochemicals attack the cancer cells.
The scientists have found, for example, that the phytochemicals interfere with the normal functioning of mitochondria, which are structures — two sets of membranes, to be precise — that are found inside cells and are the principal energy source of the cell. The mitochondria convert nutrients into energy, as well as carrying out an assortment of other specialized tasks. Without energy, cells die.
The ARS scientists discovered that when they exposed mitochondria to resveratrol and other phytochemicals, the mitochondria couldn't function properly. But more studies are needed to understand fully how the phytochemicals pulled off that trick. The ARS scientists also want to explore the other ways that phytochemicals manage to kill cells.
In a related study, the ARS scientists have also shown for the first time that some component of table grapes prevented the progression of type 1 diabetes in mice and increased their survival, compared with diabetic mice that weren't fed the grapes.
In the experiments, grapes in the form of a freeze-dried powder made up about 1 percent of the chow fed to some of the mice. That would be the human equivalent of about six servings of grapes per day.
This was apparently the first experiment to show a link between eating grapes and preventing progression of type 1 diabetes. According to the National Institutes of Health, about one in every 400 to 600 children and adolescents in the United States has type 1 diabetes.
Right now, the scientists don't know which grape compounds provided the protective effect. But their work certainly holds promise for possible new options for protection against this chronic autoimmune disease.
You'll want to stay tuned on this story!
The Agricultural Research Service is the chief in-house scientific
research agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. You can read
more about ARS discoveries at http://www.ars.usda.gov/news/.
About the author
"Everybody's
Science" is written by Sandy Miller Hays, Director of Information for
the Agricultural Research Service, the chief scientific research agency
of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Hays is a native of Fort Smith,
Ark. From the late 1970s until early 1988, Hays was a reporter, editor
and columnist at the Arkansas Democrat (now the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette),
a Little Rock-based daily newspaper. She joined the ARS Information
Staff in 1988, and became Director of Information in April 1998.