Ellagic acid and natural sources of ellagitannins as possible chemopreventive agents against intestinal tumorigenesis in the Min mouse.

Ellagic acid has been shown to have chemopreventive effects in various experimental cancer models. We wanted to see whether pure ellagic acid and natural ellagitannins from cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus) seed and pulp have any effect on adenoma formation in Apc-mutated Min mice. From the age of 5 wk, the mice were fed either a control diet, a diet containing pure ellagic acid at 1,564 mg/kg, or diets containing 4.7% (wt/wt) cloudberry seeds or 5.3% cloudberry pulp. The concentrations of ellagitannins and free ellagic acid in the seed diet were 807 and 42 mg/kg and in the pulp diet 820 and 34 mg/kg, respectively. After the 10-wk feeding period, ellagic acid had no effect on the number or size of adenomas in the distal or total small intestine, but it increased adenoma size in the duodenum when compared with the control diet (1.50+/-0.29 vs. 1.16+/-0.31 mm; P=0.029). Neither cloudberry seed nor pulp diets had any effect on the adenoma formation. Chemopreventive effects and mechanisms of whole cloudberry and other similar sources of phenolic compounds should, however, be studied, further taking into account food matrix and interactions with other dietary constituents that may be involved in the bioavailability and metabolism of ellagitannins.