With approximately one in nineteen men or women in the United States developing colorectal cancer over the course of a lifetime, this cancer is considered fairly common.⁵⁴ It has an overall 5-year survival rate of over 65%, and early detection increases this survival rate to over 90%.⁵⁴ However, advanced colorectal cancer is often resistant to chemotherapy drugs, and the 5-year survival rate for metastasized cancer is only about 11%.^54-55

Treating human colorectal cancer cell lines with bioavailable concentrations of both trans-pterostilbene and quercetin induced significant apoptosis of these cancer cells. When of tumors developed from these cell lines which were grafted onto mice were treated with clinical dosages (10-20 mg) of the quercetin/trans-pterostilbene combination, there was significant suppression of tumor growth. When used in conjunction with radiotherapy, grafted tumors were completely eliminated in the majority of the tumor-bearing mice—possibly by inhibiting antioxidant proteins produced by tumor cells that made them resistant to radiation-induced cell death. Moreover, all toxic side effects from the radiation/polyphenol treatment, measureable by levels of various enzymes in the blood, were completely eliminated within 30 days of treatment.⁵⁵