Strawberries May Combat Esophageal Cancer

Esophageal cancer is the third most common gastrointestinal cancer and the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world, and the predominant form (esophageal squamous cell carcinoma) has a very poor survival rate. Tong Chen, from The Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center (Ohio, USA), and colleagues engaged 36 study participants who consumed 60 grams (about two ounces) of freeze-dried strawberries daily for six months. The researchers obtained biopsy specimens before and after the strawberry consumption. The results showed that 29 out of 36 participants experienced a decrease in histological grade of the precancerous lesions during the study.  The team comments that: "We concluded from this study that six months of strawberry treatment is safe and easy to consume. In addition, our preliminary data suggests that strawberries … reduced cancer-related molecular events.”