Jackfruit flour and low white blood cells during chemotherapy
What it found
In a hospital study, patients with solid tumours who added green jackfruit flour to their meals were less likely to develop low white blood cells during chemotherapy.
The study compared 37 patients who took the flour with 50 earlier patients who did not.
What they found
Studies in people
Low white blood cells
Six out of 37 patients who took the flour developed low white blood cells, compared with 20 out of 50 who did not. When cycles where the flour was skipped were removed, no patient in the flour group developed it.
Filgrastim injections
The six patients in the flour group needed 38 vials of filgrastim, while the 20 in the control group needed 105 vials. After excluding cycles where the flour was not taken, the flour group needed no filgrastim at all.
Chemotherapy cycles
The average number of chemotherapy cycles was about the same in both groups, 6.27 in the flour group and 5.26 in the control group.
Tumour response
Pathology reports showed better response to chemotherapy, with more complete responses, in the flour group. The authors say this suggests the flour did not work against the cancer drugs.
Other findings
Pharmacy sales
Monthly average sales of filgrastim from the hospital pharmacy dropped from 14.87 vials to 2.66 vials after the flour was introduced. It was only needed by patients who did not take the flour.
What the authors conclude
“This study concludes that addition of green jackfruit flour as a dietary intervention prevents Chemotherapy Induced Leukopenia (CIL).”
Also in their conclusions
- They conclude that adding green jackfruit flour as a dietary intervention prevents chemotherapy-induced leukopenia in patients undergoing chemotherapy along with pegfilgrastim.
- They say the combined effect of green jackfruit flour with pegfilgrastim, resulting in complete avoidance of leukopenia, is a breakthrough in oncology and is reported for the first time.
- They call for further prospective multicenter randomized controlled trials with adequate sample and additional physical and hematological data to establish evidence of the leukopenia prevention effect.
How it was done
Chemotherapy often lowers white blood cells, which can delay treatment and raise the risk of serious infection. The authors wanted to see whether adding green jackfruit flour to the diet could help prevent this.
They looked back at 50 patients treated before June 2018 who ate their usual diet, and followed 50 patients from June 2018 who added 30 g of green jackfruit flour a day to their meals during chemotherapy. After leaving out those who had fewer than three cycles, they compared 37 patients who took the flour with 50 who did not.
What it can’t tell you
- This was a retrospective study for the control group, using existing hospital records, so it cannot prove cause and effect.
- The study was small and done at a single hospital, so the results may not apply to all patients or other settings.
- The authors note that no extra tests could be collected for the study group, and control group data were limited to available records.
Who paid
- Conflicts
- J.J. is the inventor of Jackfruit365™ Green Jackfruit Flour with a pending patent and is the founder of Jackfruit365.com and managing director of God’s Own Food Solutions Pvt. Ltd. which along with its subsidiaries manufacture and market the product. T.V. and R.M. declares that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
- Authors work at
- Renai Medicity Hospital, India; Central Washington Hospital, USA
The paper
- Title
- Efficacy of Jackfruit365™ Green Jackfruit Flour Fortified Diet on Pegfilgrastim to Prevent Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia, Irrespective of Tumor Type or Drugs Used-A Retrospective Study
- Type
- Study
- Evidence
- Studies in people
- Summarised from
- Full text
- Licence
- CC BY. Words in quotation marks are the authors’; the rest is our summary.
- Cite
- Varughese T, Joseph J, Menon R (2020). Efficacy of Jackfruit365™ Green Jackfruit Flour Fortified Diet on Pegfilgrastim to Prevent Chemotherapy-Induced Leukopenia, Irrespective of Tumor Type or Drugs Used-A Retrospective Study. Biomolecules. doi:10.3390/biom10020218Free full textPubMed 32024271DOI
Summary written 30 Sep 2026. Check it against the paper before it changes what you eat. How we summarise papers · Report an error