Saturday May 28, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study led by researchers at University of Catania in Catania, Italy suggests that eating a diet full of anthocyanins may help prevent prostate cancer.

In the study, cyanidin-3-O-β-glucopyranoside (C3G), the most abundant anthocyanin in diet was tested to determine its chemotherapeutic effect in two prostate cancer cell lines.  C3G was found to have an anti-proliferative effect.  C3G treatment also led to increased DNA fragmentation in both cell lines, which helps kill prostate cancer cells.   

Additionally, the C3G supplementation increased the levels of tumor suppressor P75NGFR, which helps prevent the cancer development. 

Chemotherapeutic  activities of antioxidants such as anthocyanins have been demonstrated in some previous in vivo and in vitro studies.  The results of the current study suggest that C3G may be enlisted to prevent prostate cancer.  (David Liu)

Sorrenti V, Vanella L, Acquaviva R, Cardile V, Giofrè S, Di Giacomo C.  Cyanidin induces apoptosis and differentiation in prostate cancer cells.  Int J Oncol. 2015 Oct;47(4):1303-10. doi: 10.3892/ijo.2015.3130.