Photo: jdg32373, Flickr
They're delicious in shortcake and make amazing ice cream, but a new study suggests strawberries might also have the power to fight cancer.
Ohio State University researchers found that freeze-dried strawberries slowed the growth of dysplastic, or precancerous, lesions in people who consumed the fruit for six months, reports The Wall Street Journal.
The study was aimed specifically at esophageal cancer, the sixth most frequent cause of cancer death in the world. (There are about 16,000 new cases each year, according to the American Cancer Society.) The research was done in China, where patients consumed 30 grams of freeze-dried strawberries dissolved in a glass of water twice daily for six months, reports the WSJ.
The freeze-dried strawberries are about 10 times as concentrated as fresh, but the study's lead researcher suggested people could still benefit from eating whole strawberries on a daily basis.
So far, no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what it is in the berries that's battling cancer cells. But until they know, you might want to hedge your bets and throw a few extra strawberries into that smoothie.














