A New Zealand man has identified two apple varieties he believes have specific cancer-fighting properties.

Monty’s Surprise and Hetlina were sent to the United States for testing last year and will go to France this year to be used in cancer trials.

Chartered accountant and part-time researcher Mark Christensen discovered Monty's Surprise by chance on an old tree in a remote area. It is believed to be the only one of its kind growing anywhere in the world.

The other, Hetlina, originates from Europe and was found in a collection of heritage apple trees grown at Lincoln University.

The apples have high levels of chemical compounds that have been found to kill cancer cells.

Cancer Society medical director Peter Dady described the research as "interesting" but was sceptical about its future. "A lot of natural substances will kill cancer in mice but that doesn't mean they will kill cancer in humans," he said.

It was "not beyond the bounds of possibility" that the apples would work in humans but such a drug would be hugely expensive to develop.

Christensen, a member of the Central Districts branch of the Tree Crops Association (TCA), instigated the search for the apples after reading of American and Finnish research.

He found that HortResearch had tested the popular apple varieties and found them to have low levels of the chemical, but that this had not been extended to lesser-known varieties.

He and other members of the TCA branch began a search for the old apples, tracking down 59 varieties and testing them with the help of HortResearch in Palmerston North in 2003. The two with the highest levels of the cancer-killing chemical were Monty's Surprise and Hetlina.

"I can't reconcile the modern medical practices of fighting cancer with radiation and chemotherapy. They are harming the immune system," said Christensen. "We need a natural solution that will strengthen the immune system, and what could be more natural than apples?

"There has to be something better out there and I'm sure we're on to the right thing."

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