Wait! Before you toss that parsley sprig into the garbage disposal or trash that celery-stalk garnish, you’re going to want to read this.

A University of Missouri researcher has made an astounding discovery about a compound hidden in some fruits and vegetables that can essentially stop certain kinds of breast-cancer cells in their tumor-producing tracks.

Professor Salman Hyder exposed rats with synthetic-hormone-induced breast cancers—produced using a common HRT progestin called medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA)—to a plant compound called apigenin.

The rats that received the apigenin extract developed fewer tumors and had significant delays in the development of tumors as compared with rats that did not receive the extract.

You see, in order for cancer tumors to grow and spread they need to continually recruit new blood vessels to supply them with a flow of nutrients. In the case of MPA-induced tumors, the cancer cells encourage the growth of new blood vessels within the tumors, which then serve as nutrient highways feeding and growing the cancer.

But what Professor Hyder discovered was that the apigenin literally blocked the new blood vessels from forming, effectively cutting off the tumors’ food supply. Without the continuous flow of nutrients, the growth of the tumors was stunted…and in some cases even stopped altogether.

In addition, the extract was able to reduce the overall number of tumors.

Oh, and I should mention that this isn’t the first time apigenin has shown its ninja-like cancer-fighting abilities. In an earlier unrelated study—done by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School—it was found that women who consumed the most apigenin-rich foods had a 28% reduced risk of developing ovarian cancer as compared with women who ate the least of them.

Pretty impressive results I’d say for a plain-as-an-old-shoe phytonutrient that’s already found naturally in a variety of common plants, fruits, and nuts.

Professor Hyder is planning on taking the compound into clinical studies next. But there’s no reason to wait around for years for trials to be finished and for a marketable synthetic-drug version of apigenin to be produced. You can simply load up on more apigenin-rich foods in your diet right now.

Foods rich in the flavonoid include celery, parsley, apples, tomato sauce, endive, beans, cherries, leeks, onions, tomatoes, grapes, and red wine.

I don’t know about you, but the thought of a sprig of parsley kicking the Big C’s butt ninja-style has me grinning from ear to ear.

Reference:

“Apigenin prevents development of medroxyprogesterone acetate-accelerated 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced mammary tumors in Sprague-Dawley rats, Cancer Prevention Research, Published Online First April 19, 2011; doi: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0382

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