Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
it is also the most common yeast causing infections in various parts of
the body. In addition to berry extracts, also ellagitannin fractions isolated
from cloudberries and raspberries are strong inhibitors of
Staphylococcus
bacteria
(Puupponen-Pimiä
et al
., 2005a). Major part of the growth
inhibition of
Salmonella
bacteria, however, originates from other
compounds such as organic acids. The antimicrobial activity of
cloudberries and raspberries is stable during long-term frozen storage of
berries (Nohynek
et al.
, 2006).
In addition to ellagitannin-rich berries, pomegranates also contain
antimicrobial compounds. Tannin-rich fractions and ellagitannins are
effective against
Escherichia coli
,
Pseudomonas aeruginosa
,
Candida
albicans
,
Cryptococcus neoformans
,
Aspergillus fumigatus
,
Mycobacterium intracellulare
, and even methicillin-resistant
Staphylococcus aureus
(Machado
et al
., 2002, Reddy
et al
., 2007).
Berries and pomegranates possess antimicrobial activity against a
wide spectrum of bacteria and yeast, and could possibly be used as
therapeutic or disinfective agents against those bacteria. Several
applications for food industry and medicine have been suggested, such as
functional foods or beverages for gut well-being and balanced
microflora, natural food preservatives for foods that are easily
contaminated by bacteria, products to prevent gastrointestinal and
urinary tract infections, and products to prevent and treat antibiotic
resistant bacterial infections (Puupponen-Pimiä
et al
., 2005b). However,
more research is needed to verify the effects and stability of the active
components in various food matrices. For substantiation of the
therapeutic potential, the efficacy of such foods or other type of products
should be demonstrated in clinical trials.
8.4.3 Inhibition of cancer cell growth
Cancer cell growth is dependent on the balance between proliferation
and apoptosis. Unregulated cell proliferation and suppression of
apoptosis are key steps in initiation and progression of cancer. There is a
lot of evidence that extracts of ellagitannin-rich foods reduce the growth
of cancer cells
in vitro
, by inhibiting cell proliferation, inducing
