Fruit and vegetable pulp may help prevent cancer

A University of Queensland scientist has discovered that much of the antioxidant compounds in fruits and vegetables are actually attached to the fibre in the pulpy parts of these foods. Fibre has long been known to clean the bowel but Anneline Padayachee of University of Queensland has revealed that it also delivers cleansing antioxidants to the colon. According to her the fibre delivers the compounds, called polyphenols, to the colon and releases them there, helping to prevent cancerous cell damage, News. com. au. reported. In the case of black carrots, which are rich in polyphenols, 80 per cent of their antioxidants are found in the fibrous, pulpy parts. According to Dr Padayachee, who presented her research at a Fresh Science event in Melbourne, what her study showed is that it 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,” the website quoted Dr Padayachee as saying. “Not only will you have a clean gut but a healthy gut full of polyphenols,” she added. 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. ANI