Plant chemicals called flavonoids have been widely promoted as having health benefits when plant foods are included in the diet.

One not previously mentioned has been apigenin, an antioxidant compound found in celery, parsley and red wine (red wine again!).

A Dutch study on isolated laboratory cell cultures has found that apigenin is active against some cells responsible for leukaemia. Unfortunately, they also found it may interfere with some standard chemotherapy options in the disease.

So no-one is yet proposing it should be part of treatment, but it does open up some possibilities for new means of management of these common conditions, there being several different kinds of leukaemia.

Previous studies have suggested apigenin may also protect against ovarian cancer, a condition which is usually hard to treat as it is often detected late.

Source: Ruela-de-Sousa RR, et al. Cell Death Dis 1: e19; doi:10.1038/cddis.2009.18

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Originally posted in March 2010. everybody Nutrition News items are selected from a wide range of journals, bulletins and nutrition information sources worldwide and summarised by Professor John Birkbeck, Institute of Food Nutrition and Human Health, Massey University. The opinions contained herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the publisher or sponsor. Copyright UBM Medica (NZ) Ltd.