Bell peppers are effective against breast cancer
HEALTH BENEFITS, NUTRITION FACTS AND RESEARCH
Health benefits of bell peppers:
anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, radioprotective, cholesterol levels reducing, strong chemopreventive properties by its anti-mutagenic effect
Bell peppers are a source of:
vitamin A from beta-carotene, vitamin B6, vitamin C (very high-especially in red pepper), vitamin K and folate
Cancer-fighting compounds of bell peppers:
Carotenoids:
- strong antioxidants
- shown to slow down genetic mutations, which lower the risk of some cancers
- reduce risk of breast cancer, particularly for more aggressive types
- slow down the growth of human breast cancer cells, stop their division and increase their cellular death
Apigenin-flavonoid:
- stops the movement and invasion of cancer cells and helps to stop their division
- slows down the growth of breast cancer cells by leading to their cellular death
Luteolin:
- increases the effectiveness of Paclitaxel (Taxol)
- helps to reduce the risk of breast cancer
- antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects
- slows down the growth of breast cancer cells and also slows down tumour survival and invasion
- complements Cyclophosphamide, Doxorubicin, and NSAID (Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as Celecoxib anti-cancer therapies
- could reduce the risk of developing metastasis originating from triple-negative breast cancer
Lycopene:
- slows down the growth, invasion and migration of human breast cancer cells and increases their cell death
- protects against cancers as a result of its antioxidant properties
- lycopene content increases during cooking, especially together with oil
Quercetin (FLAVONOID):
- suppresses the growth of breast cancer stem cells, their self-renewal and invasiveness
- shown to cause cellular death of cancer cell lines
- increases breast cancer cells chemosensitivity to Doxorubicin
- potential cancer drug due to its ability to target and destroy breast cancer stem cells
- interferes with the growth of ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer cells
NOTES:
Recommended organic, non-organic bell peppers must be washed very thoroughly to remove pesticide residue as much as possible.
