Apples reduce pancreatic cancer risk

HONOLULU, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Researchers in the United States and Germany found compounds naturally found in apples may help reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer.

The study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, determined eating quercetin -- a flavonol found most in apples and onions -- significantly reduced the risk of pancreatic cancer in smokers.

The researchers tracked food intake and health outcomes of 183,518 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study for eight years and evaluated the participants’ food consumption and calculated the intake of the three flavonols quercetin, kaempferol and myricetin.

Smokers with the lowest intake of flavonols presented with the most pancreatic cancer. Smoking is an established risk factor for the often fatal pancreatic cancer, the researchers said.

The study also found women had the highest intake of total flavonols and 70 percent of the flavonol intake came from quercetin -- linked to apple and onion consumption.

Unlike many dietary components, flavonols are concentrated in specific foods rather than in broader food groups, for example, in apples rather than in all fruit. It's believed flavonols reduce oxidative stress and alter other cellular functions related to cancer development, said researchers at the University of Hawaii and University of Southern California.