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

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.

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