
More ARS from
the ACS Meeting Breakfast Cereal Lowers Lab Rats' Cancer RiskBy
Marcia Wood August
24, 1998Wheat bran heated and shaped into short, crispy strips for a commercial
breakfast cereal was more effective than raw wheat bran in reducing an indicator
of colon cancer in laboratory rats, a new study shows. Bran is the thin,
fiber-rich outer layer of the wheat kernel. Scientists with the Agricultural Research
Service and the University of California at Davis conducted the 6-1/2 month
study. It apparently is the first to show that processing may improve wheat
bran's effectiveness in reducing the occurrence of aberrant crypt foci, or ACF,
that are an indicator of colon cancer in rats. Wallace H. Yokoyama with ARS' Western Regional
Research Center in Albany, Calif., and Paul A. Davis of the
UC Davis School of Medicine conducted
the study. Davis reported the findings yesterday, Aug. 23, at a Boston meeting
of the American Chemical Society. The scientists fed 120 white lab rats a diet that included either processed
or raw wheat bran. Those fed processed wheat bran had 33 percent fewer aberrant
crypt foci in their colons than rats fed raw wheat bran. The animals had been
injected with a chemical that stimulates formation of ACF. Scientists have
known for more than a decade that feeding raw wheat bran to lab animals reduces
the occurrence of ACF. For the study, the processed bran was heated and shaped in a food-processing
machine known as an extruder. Colorectal cancer is the second deadliest cancer in the U.S., killing nearly
55,000 Americans every year. Kellogg Co., Battle Creek, Mich., funded part of the study. Scientific contact: Wallace H. Yokoyama, Ph.D., ARS Western Regional
Research Center, 800 Buchanan St., Albany, CA 94710, phone (510) 559-5695, fax
(510) 559-5777, e-mail [email protected]. Yokoyama and Davis are currently attending the American Chemical Society
meeting in Boston and may be contacted through the American Chemical Society
press center there, phone (617) 351-6808. U.S. Department of Agriculture | |