According to recent research, Black raspberries can slow cancer spread. Researchers found that black raspberries have a mixture of preventative agents like vitamins, minerals, phenols and phytosterols which can effectively slow down the process of cancer development.

Lead researcher Gary D. Stoner, a professor of pathology, human nutrition and medicine said, “We have clearly shown that berries, which contain a variety of anticancer compounds, have a genome-wide effect on the expression of genes involved in cancer development.”

He added that freeze drying the berries concentrates these elements about ten times, giving us a power pack of chemoprevention agents that can influence the different signaling pathways that are deregulated in cancer.

Researchers reached this conclusion after studying the effect of freeze-dried black raspberries on genes altered by a chemical carcinogen in an animal model of esophageal cancer.

In this study, different groups of rats were fed with a normal diet and a diet containing 5 percent black-raspberry powder. Researchers injected half the animals in each diet group three times with a chemical carcinogen, N-nitrosomethylbenzylamine during the third week while the animals continued consuming the diets during the week of carcinogen treatment.

Researches analyzed the activity, or expression levels, of 41,000 genes. The study showed that the carcinogen affected the activity of some 2,200 genes in the animals’ esophagus in only one week, but 460 of those genes were restored to normal activity in animals that consumed freeze-dried black raspberry powder as part of their diet during the exposure.

Researchers also identified 53 genes that may play a fundamental role in early cancer development during the study. Researchers believe that various drugs can be developed to target these genes.