A Chemical in Red Wine, Fruits and Vegetables Stops Cancer

A new study has found that very high doses of antioxidant polyphenols--commonly found in red wine, fruits, vegetables, and green tea--shut down cancerous tumors by cutting off the formation of new blood vessels needed for their growth.

Researchers at the University of Angers (France) investigated the effects of polyphenols on postischemic neovascularization. Rats treated with low doses of red wine polyphenolic compounds were submitted to femoral artery ligature on the left leg. The researchers found that at relatively low doses, polyphenols play a beneficial role for those with diseased hearts and circulatory systems by facilitating blood vessel growth. The amount of polyphenols necessary for this effect was found to be the equivalent of only one glass of red wine per day or simply sticking to a healthy diet of fruits and vegetables containing polyphenols.

However, according to the authors, the amount of polyphenols necessary to obtain an anti-cancer effect is the equivalent of drinking about a bottle of red wine each day. This amount of daily alcohol consumption obviously is unhealthy, but the researchers suggest that polyphenols extracted from plants or red wine could be converted into a pill form that is highly likely to be safe. Such a pill also would be relatively easy and inexpensive to create and deliver. The study was published in the November 2007 issue of The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) Journal.

"The use of plant polyphenols as therapeutic tools presents important advantages,” said lead author Daniel Henrion, Ph.D., "because they have a good safety profile, a low cost and they can be obtained everywhere on the planet.”

This study also adds to a growing body of research showing dose-dependent relationships for many types of commonly used compounds; for instance, research published in the October 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal showed that aspirin, through different mechanisms, also has a dose-dependent relationship for heart disease and cancer.


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