Blueberries May Prevent (or Slow Growth of) Prostate Cancer

Someone said to me, "Great, it seems everything raises the risk for prostate cancer! What doesn't?"

Blueberries:

Differential Effects Of Blueberry Proanthocyanidins On Androgen Sensitive And Insensitive Human Prostate Cancer Cell Lines, Cancer Letters, 2006

This study compared wild vs. cultivated blueberry. The cultivated blueberry fared better, inhibiting the growth of androgen-dependant prostate cancer cells by up to 57% compared to control.
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Inhibition Of Matrix Metalloproteinase Activity In DU145 Human Prostate Cancer Cells By Flavonoids From Lowbush Blueberry (Vaccinium Angustifolium), The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry, 2006

This study found that blueberries can reduce activity of an enzyme which reduces the ability of prostate cancer cells to spread or metastasize:

"These findings indicate that blueberry flavonoids may use multiple mechanisms in down-regulating matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity ... important in controlling [prostate] tumor metastasis formation."

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Cranberry And Blueberry: Evidence For Protective Effects Against Cancer And Vascular Diseases, Molecular Nutrition and Food Research, 2007

This was a review. Cites the benefits for cranberry too:

"Growing evidence from tissue culture, animal, and clinical models suggests that the flavonoid-rich fruits of the North American cranberry and blueberry have the potential ability to limit the development and severity of certain cancers and vascular diseases including atherosclerosis, ischemic stroke, and neurodegenerative diseases of aging."

"The evidence suggests a potential role for dietary cranberry and blueberry in the prevention of cancer and vascular diseases."

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Finally, there's Blueberry Punch, a commercially available beverage from Dr. Red Nutraceuticals in Australia. (This is not a plug.) It's actually a blend containing "a combination of fruit concentrates (blueberry, red grape, raspberry and elderberry), grape seed and skin extract, citrus skin extracts, green tea extract (EGCG), olive leaf and olive pulp extracts, tarragon, turmeric and ginger."

In a presentation last December at the American Association for Cancer Research, researchers from the University of Sydney reported:

"After feeding mice a 10 percent solution of the punch for two weeks, the [prostate] tumors in the test mice were 25 percent smaller than those found in mice that drank only tap water."

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Blueberries aren't the only berry that have been shown to prevent or slow tumor growth, nor is cancer of the prostate the only cancer berries protect against. But when I think prostate, I think blueberries.
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