Scottish Daily Mail

QUESTION Has a New Zealand variety of apple been used to treat cancer?

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nEW Zealand accountant Mark Christense­n runs the not-for-profit Heritage Food Crops Research Trust. It specialise­s in growing organic heirloom fruit and vegetables, attempting to find varieties that prevent or treat illness.

Christense­n champions the apple Monty’s Surprise as it has high levels of procyanidi­ns and quercetin flavonoid compounds, which are powerful antioxidan­ts thought to help prevent cancer.

Christense­n says it’s the Full Monty: large, colourful, tastes good and is high in phytonutri­ents.

He found the apple growing by a verge on north Island. Its potential was discovered after he sent samples to the new Zealand Institute for Plant and Food Research for nutritiona­l analysis.

In 2006, Christense­n sent Monty’s Surprise to the French national Institute for Health and Medical Research. Lab tests showed that extracts of the apples could reduce the growth of cancer cells, especially colon cancer.

However, the evidence is not concrete. According to Christense­n, the next stage needs to be a long-term human trial.

‘We need to find a scientist who is interested in conducting a 15 to 20-year study — perhaps on the people of Whanganui in new Zealand, who are eating the apple,’ he said.

More than 8,000 Monty’s Surprise apple trees have been donated by the trust to new Zealanders.

John Stanton, Akenham, Suffolk.

IS THERE a question to which you have always wanted to know the answer? Or do you know the answer to a question raised here? Send your questions and answers to: Charles Legge, Answers To Correspond­ents, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Steet, Glasgow G2 6DB. You can also email them to charles.legge@dailymail.co.uk. A selection will be published, but we are not able to enter into individual correspond­ence.

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