WASHINGTON - The apples and apple juice you consume may have positive effects in one of the most unlikely places in the body – in the colon. New research has demonstrated that components in both apple pectin and apple juice actually enhance biological mechanisms that have anticarcinogenic effects in the colon.

Using human fecal matter as the test substance, German researchers Dr. Dieter Schrenk, M.D. and his colleagues hypothesized that the compound butyrate could be increased in the presence of apple pectin and apple juice extracts.

Butyrate is a short chain fatty acid which is seen as a major contributing factor to a healthy colon. It has been suggested to be ‘chemopreventative’ in that it might prevent the occurrence of colorectal cancer, which is very common in Western industrialized countries. The research notes, “Butyrate not only serves as a major nutrient for the colon epithelia but is also thought to play an important role in the protective effect of natural fiber against colorectal cancer.”

So how do apple pectin and apple juice extracts play a role in increasing amounts of butyrate? The laboratory tests performed by Schrenk found that the increased production of butyrate from the addition of apple components inhibited histone deacetlyases (HDAC). A slowed production of HDAC results in significantly less growth of precancerous and tumor cells.

The research, published in the April 2008 issue of Nutrition, notes, “apples are a major source of natural fiber and of low molecular weight plan polyphenols in the Western diet.” The researchers conclude, “Pectin-rich apple products can thus be expected to exert anticarginogenic effects in the colon.”

SOURCE: usapple.org, March 2008.