Consumption of apples has been demonstrated to lower the risk of chronic diseases due to the presence of bioactive components such as fiber and polyphenols. The aims of this study were to determine the effects of apple pomace, a major waste product of apple juice processing, and its fractions on tumor development in APCMin/+ mice. APCMin/+ mice (21-28 days old) were separated into one of five dietary treatment groups consisting of powdered AIN-93G diet supplemented with either apple pomace, apple juice, apple ethanol extract or apple residue; cornstarch was used as the control diet. Mice consuming the apple juice-containing diet had the fewest adenomas in the small intestine (54.5 ± 5.6) and mice consuming apple residue the greatest number (77.6 ± 5.6), with the other dietary treatments resulting in intermediate tumor numbers. Additionally, consumption of diets containing apple juice led to the smallest (P<0.05) numbers of small intestinal adenomas for both female (57.3 ± 8.3) and male (51.7 ± 7.6) mice. In colon, no statistically significant differences in adenoma numbers were observed among mice consuming the different dietary treatments. However, male mice had higher incidence of colonic adenomas (79.7%) than female mice (59.3%). In cecum, mice consuming diets containing apple juice had the smallest average adenoma size and mice consuming apple residue the greatest average adenoma size. These results demonstrate that fractions derived from apple pomace differentially influence intestinal adenoma development in APCMin/+ mice, but further research is required to determine the mechanisms for the observed effects.
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