Can An Apple a Day Keep Breast Cancer Away?

Researchers as Cornell University have shown the phytochemicals in apples to be effective in combating breast cancer. After giving rats a chemical to induce breast cancer, they then fed them variable doses of extract distilled from the popular Red Delicious apple. After 24 weeks, breast tumor rates were 17 percent lower in the rats who received the low dose of the apple extract, 39 percent lower with the medium dose and 44 percent lower with the high dose.

But don't go reaching for a supplement. Researchers emphasized that there is no substitute for the real thing. "No single antioxidant can replace the combination of natural phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables in achieving ultimate health benefits," write the researchers. "The pure compounds either lose their bioactivities in isolation or may not behave the same way as the compound in complex whole foods."