Posts Tagged ‘Resveratrol’
Study finds Resveratrol serves as an anti-cancer agent
In January 2004, Drs. Simone Fulda and Klaus-Michael Debatin from the University Children’s Hospital in Ulm, Germany released a study with findings that resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, is a cancer prevention agent.
This study states that naturally occurring dietary compounds such as resveratrol have gained considerable attention as cancer preventative agents. Resveratrol is a potent sensitizer of tumor cells for induced tumor cell death.
A major problem in cancer therapies today is the resistance of many tumors to current treatments. Thus, current attempts to improve cancer survival will have to include strategies that specifically target tumor cell resistance. Apoptosis, the cell’s natural death program, plays a crucial role in regulating healthy tissue function. An imbalance in cell death and birth may result in tumor formation. Apoptosis in tumor cells is a key in successfully killing tumor cells with cancer drugs, radiation or immunotherapy.
Recently, naturally occurring antioxidant compounds present in diet and beverages, such as red wine resveratrol, have gained considerable attention because of their beneficial effects on health as cancer preventative and cardio protective agents. Among the resveratrol benefits reported anti-tumor characteristics have also been noted.
The doctors tested the anti-tumor activity of resveratrol on human tumor cells in this study. They discovered a new function of resveratrol by showing for the first time that resveratrol is a potent sensitizer for cellular natural death processes in a variety of tumor cells.
Blood Clot Risk Reduced by Resveratrol
Doctors from the Institute of Anatomy at the University of Milan, Italy, released a report in 1995 that explored the possibility that resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, may have the power to prevent blood clots from forming.
Drs. A.A. Bertelli, L. Giovannini, D. Giannessi, M. Migliori, W. Mernini, M. Fregoni, and A. Bertelli studied the anti-blood clotting properties of resveratrol alone and resveratrol associated with red wine. The doctors performed this research on platelet filled plasma in a laboratory environment with different concentrations of red wine resveratrol.
The study shows that resveratrol was able to lower blood platelet clotting and red wine containing natural trans-resveratrol also restricted platelet clotting. When resveratrol was added to the red wine, blood-clotting restriction was increased. Overall, the doctors suggest that the anti-blood clotting activity of resveratrol is related to its concentration levels in wine.
Cancer Prevention Agent Resveratrol Restricts Cell “Domino Effect”
In 1999, Drs. J. García-García, V. Micol, A. de Godos, and J.C. Gómez-Fernández published a study from the Edificio de Veterinaria at the Universidad de Murcia in Murcia, Spain and stated that resveratrol, an ingredient in red wine, can be used as a preventative cancer agent.
Grapes and other foods high in antioxidants display the cancer preventative benefits of resveratrol. This study found that by intervening with with resveratrol, the experimenters can restrict a gene that regulates and effects the growth and transformation of tumor cells.
In this resveratrol study, resveratrol was shown to effect particular enzymes that control the function of other proteins. This enzyme plays an important roll in several ‘domino effect’ signals that take place within cells. This process is crucial for every stage of a cell’s life because it can begin with a small stimulus and end with a large response.