Blueberries can help enhance cervical cancer treatment

Today’s Video of the Day comes from the University of Missouri School of Medicine and features a look at how blueberries can be used to boost cervical cancer treatment.

Each year, about 12,000 women in the U.S. are diagnosed with cervical cancer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

While radiation is an important treatment in order to kill cancer cells, it can also harm nearby healthy cells. But researchers found that a blueberry extract can help make the cancer cells more responsive to the radiation.

“Cancer cells avoid death by remodeling themselves,” said Dr. Yujiang Fang, a visiting professor and lead author of the study “Along with reducing cell proliferation, the extract also ‘tricks’ cancer cells into dying. So it inhibits the birth and promotes the death of cancer cells.”

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By Rory Arnold, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: University of Missouri