Re: Supplements for Leukemia?

You may look into adding acai juice (and its relevance to leukemia in particular) into your friends nutritional arsenal based off preliminary research done by the University of Florida. The following is an excerpt taken from Pubmed
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Açai (Euterpe oleracea Mart.) polyphenolics in their glycoside and aglycone forms induce apoptosis of HL-60 leukemia cells.
Del Pozo-Insfran D, Percival SS, Talcott ST.

Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, University of Florida, P.O. Box 110370, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0370, USA.

The effects of açai polyphenolics on the antiproliferation and induction of apoptosis in HL-60 human leukemia cells were investigated. Interactions between anthocyanins and non-anthocyanin-polyphenolics in both their glycosidic and their aglycone forms were also investigated to determine additive or nonadditive responses. Polyphenolic fractions at 0.17-10.7 microM were found to reduce cell proliferation from 56 to 86% likely due to caspase-3 activation (apoptosis). Anthocyanin and polyphenolic fractions were nonadditive in their contribution to the cell antiproliferation activity. At equimolar concentrations, the glycosidic forms of phenolic acids and flavonoids induced a higher magnitude of change in cell parameters (proliferation and apoptosis) than their respective aglycone forms, while the opposite trend was observed for anthocyanin aglycones. This study demonstrated that açai offers a rich source of bioactive polyphenolics and confirmed the importance of investigating whole food systems when evaluating the potential health benefits of individual phytochemical compounds. Tweet