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Quercetin helps to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancerUniv. of Hawaii and Univ. of Southern California, November 1, 2022

Quercetin, which is found naturally in apples and onions, has been identified as one of the most beneficial flavonols in preventing and reducing the risk of pancreatic cancer. Although the overall risk was reduced among the study participants, smokers who consumed foods rich in flavonols had a significantly greater risk reduction.

This study, published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, is the first of its kind to evaluate the effect of flavonols – compounds found specifically in plants – on developing pancreatic cancer.

Researchers from the Univ. of Hawaii and Univ. of Southern California tracked food intake and health outcomes of 183,518 participants in the Multiethnic Cohort Study for eight years. The study evaluated the participants’ food consumption and calculated the intake of the three flavonols quercetin, kaempferol, and myricetin. The analyses determined that flavonol intake does have an impact on the risk for developing pancreatic cancer.

The most significant finding was among smokers. 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, notes the research.

Among the other findings were that women had the highest intake of total flavonols and seventy percent of the flavonol intake came from quercetin, linked to apple and onion consumption.

It is believed that these compounds may have anticancer effects due to their ability to reduce oxidative stress and alter other cellular functions related to cancer development. Previously, the most consistent inverse association was found between flavonols, especially quercetin in apples and lung cancer, as pointed out in this study. No other epidemiological flavonol studies have included evaluation of pancreatic cancer.

While found in many plants, flavonols are found in high concentrations in apples, onions, tea, berries, kale, and broccoli. Quercetin is most plentiful in apples and onions.

Hops may help lower Alzheimer disease riskUniversity of Milano-Bicocca (Italy), November 9 2022.

Hops, the plant whose flowers are used to make beer, could have a future in the prevention of Alzheimer disease according to research reported in the journal ACS Chemical Neuroscience.

“The search for natural compounds, whose intake through diet can help prevent the main biochemical mechanisms responsible for Alzheimer disease onset, led us to screen hops,” Alessandro Palmioli of the University of Milano-Bicocca and colleagues wrote.

Acting on other positive findings for hops, the team identified feruloyl and p-coumaroylquinic acids, flavan-3-ol glycosides and procyanidins as compounds responsible for the plant’s neuroprotective action. These molecules interacted with amyloid-beta (a substance that forms sticky plaques in the brains of Alzheimer disease patients), to prevent it from forming fibrils and becoming toxic. Hops extracts were also found to prevent cell death by inhibiting oxidative stress and inducing autophagy, a process by which cells break down and destroy old or damaged proteins or other substances. The Tettnang variety of hops proved to be the most successful of the four varieties tested.

“The identification of natural compounds or natural mixtures, such as nutraceuticals, exploitable for the development of preventive strategies against Alzheimer disease (and other neurodegenerative diseases) appears as a better alternative to the treatment of symptoms, as the neuronal damage associated with the disease is irreversible,” the authors remarked. “Our results show that hop is a source of bioactive molecules with synergistic and multitarget activity against the early events underlying Alzheimer disease development. We can therefore think of i