Small concentrations of two compounds found in cereals and vegetables have been shown to suppress the growth of three kinds of human cancer cells in the laboratory, according to research published in the current issue of the Journal of Nutrition.
Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison used human cancer cell lines and normal cell lines and found that specific substances found in fruit, vegetables and grain inhibited cancer cell growth in leukaemia, breast and colon cancer cells.
"We found that the human cancer cell lines were three times more sensitive to the [substances] isoprenoids than a non-cancerous cell line," according to Dr Charles Elson who carried out the research.