Lack of efficacy of blueberry in nutritional prevention of azoxymethane-initiated cancers of rat small intestine and colon.

Background: Blueberries may lower relative risk for cancers of the gastrointestinal tract. Previous work indicated an inhibitory effect of consumed blueberry (BB) on formation of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in colons of male Fisher F344 rats (inbred strain). However, effects of BB on colon tumors and in both genders are unknown.

Tumor-protective and tumor-promoting actions of dietary whey proteins in an N-methyl-N-nitrosourea model of rat mammary carcinogenesis.

The mammary tumor-protective effects of dietary factors are considered to be mediated by multiple signaling pathways, consistent with the heterogeneous nature of the disease and the distinct genetic profiles of tumors arising from diverse mammary cell populations. In a 7,12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene-induced model of carcinogenesis, we showed previously that female Sprague-Dawley rats exposed to AIN-93G diet containing whey protein hydrolysate (WPH) beginning at gestation Day 4 had reduced tumor incidence than those exposed to diet containing casein (CAS), due partly to increased mammary differentiation and reduced activity of phase I metabolic enzymes. Here, we evaluated the tumor-protective effects of these same dietary proteins to the direct-acting carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU).