Pulpy fruit parts said to prevent cancer

FIBRE has long been known to clean the bowel but it has now been found to deliver cleansing antioxidants to the colon as well.

University of Queensland scientist Anneline Padayachee made the discovery after her work at a juicing factory prompted her to wonder how much goodness was being thrown away in the pulp left behind by juicing machines. What she discovered is that much of the antioxidant compounds in fruits and vegetables are actually attached to the fibre in the pulpy parts of these foods.

The fibre delivers the compounds, called polyphenols, to the colon and releases them there, helping to prevent cancerous cell damage. In the case of black carrots, which are rich in polyphenols, 80 per cent of their antioxidants are found in the fibrous, pulpy parts. Previously fibre was thought to be of benefit only because it cleaned the bowel and it was not known to deliver antioxidants.

Presenting her research at a Fresh Science event in Melbourne yesterday, Dr Padayachee said it showed it is important that people either eat whole fruit and vegetables or, if they are juicing them, drink pulpy juices rather than clear thinned-out juices to get antioxidants into their system. "To gain the benefits of polyphenols, you need to consume everything, the whole vegetable or fruit, including the fibrous pulp if you're juicing it," Dr Padayachee said. "Not only will you have a clean gut but a healthy gut full of polyphenols."

The four-year research project, jointly funded by the University of Queensland Centre for Nutrition and Food Science, the CSIRO and the Australian Research Council, finished in 2012. Scientists are now researching whether fibre can be used to deliver and release medicines to the colon and will look at ways of using fruit and vegetable pulps in different manufactured food products.

news.com.au

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