A new University of Illinois study concludes with hopeful evidence that a common ingredient in celery, artichokes, and some herbs, especially Mexican oregano, kills pancreatic cancer cells. The University conducted a lab study with apigenin and luteolin, both flavonoids, discovering that they inhibited an enzyme, helping to fight pancreatic cancer.

University professor of food chemistry and food toxicology Elvira de Mejia stated that, "Apigenin alone induced cell death in two aggressive human pancreatic cancer cell lines. But we received the best results when we pre-treated cancer cells with apigenin for 24 hours, then applied the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine for 36 hours."

While it is unlikely that Pancreatic cancer patients can eat enough celery and artichokes to receive the recommended amount of flavonoids, scientists could design drugs around this new information.

These results also spell good news for the prevention of cancer, notes de Mejia, "If you eat a lot of fruits and vegetables throughout your life, you'll have chronic exposure to these bioactive flavonoids, which would certainly help to reduce the risk of cancer."

The results of the study offers hopeful news in the fight against pancreatic cancer, an extremely aggressive type of cancer that leaves patients with a five-year survival rate of only six percent.

Flavanoids Kill Human Pancreatic Cancer