In a 2001 review by Drs. Ewa Ignaatowicz and Wanda Baer-Dubowska, from the Department of Pharmaceutical Biochemistry at the Karol Marcinkowski University of Medical Sciences in Poznan, Poland, researchers found that resveratrol, a natural cancer prevention agent, can fight against degenerative diseases.
Red wine resveratrol is a naturally occurring compound shown to regulate the risk of cardiovascular degenerative diseases and reduce chemically caused cancer in rodents. There is data available on the biological activities of resveratrol and it has to be considered as a very promising cancer protector and cancer therapeutic.
Resveratrol is present in a wide variety of plant species, like mulberries, peanuts, and grapes. Resveratrol found in the powder root of Polygonum cuspidatum (polygonaceae) is an active ingredient of Chinese and Japanese folk medicine, and since ancient times, it has been used to cure diseases that contemporary medicine describe as inflammation, allergy, and cholesterol problems.
Recent studies add a new dimension to the growing role of resveratrol supplements as a potent cancer prevention measure that shows anti-inflammatory, cell growth-adaptors and anti-cancer effects. The successful synthesis of resveratrol with the observations of this review resulted in more data on the cancer preventative activity of resveratrol.
Doctors H. M. Zbikowska and B. Olas from the Department of General Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry at the University of Lodz, Poland released a study in 2000 with findings that resveratrol, a red wine antioxidant, may have characteristics that can suppress blood clumping and aid in cardiovascular health.
Compounds with potential anti-platelet activity, like resveratrol, can be used in the therapy of cardiovascular disorders. The doctors investigated the effects of three different antioxidants with properties that can slow or stop the growth of cancer. Trans-resveratrol was tested on blood platelet adhesion. Adhesion is the initial step of blood platelet activation.
Today there is a growing interest in new compounds in human diet with antioxidant properties and with potential anti-platelet activity. Resveratrol is a phenolic antioxidant found in grapes and other food products. It occurs naturally in trans- and cis- forms. Some evidence suggests that the presence of resveratrol in wines may partly explain the reduced risk of coronary heart disease associated with moderate red wine drinking. This effect has been attributed to the inhibition of blood platelet clumping and the anti-inflammatory activity of red wine resveratrol.
Resveratrol strongly suppressed platelet adhesion, which is where platelets stick to any area with damaged blood vessels. In this experiment, resveratrol in comparison to other antioxidants appeared to be the strongest suppressor of platelet clumping to fibrinogen, a coagulation protein in the blood.
In 2005, Drs. Zhen-Hua Ma and Quing-Yong Ma from the Division of General Surgery of First Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University in Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China released a review with findings that resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, might be a treatment for acute inflammation or infection of the pancreas.
Evidence demonstrates that red wine resveratrol reduces inflammation when administered in experimental models. Resveratrol has direct effects on suppressing blood clotting and immune system cell communication production. Both of these actions are involved in many diseases, and the discovery of resveratrol as an inhibitor could lead to a treatment for acute pancreas disease, (pancreatitis). Pancreatitis even today has significant mortality and morbidity rates.
In recent years, resveratrol has been found in about 70 plant species. The highest concentration of resveratrol dosage is found in grape skins. There are many proven resveratrol benefits including anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, cancer prevention and suppressed blood clotting. These activities show that resveratrol has beneficial effects on acute pancreatitis.
Resveratrol supplements are already regarded as an effective in the management of arteriosclerosis, heart disease, and tumors. Since resveratrol is effective in these other diseases, it seems logical that its characteristics could benefit acute pancreatitis treatments. The doctors state that more resveratrol studies need to be done and the effects of resveratrol on pancreas disease should be studied further.
A 2005 study found that resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, can reduce cell mutations in the human body’s cell cycles. Drs. R. Rigolio, M. Miloso, G. Tredici, G. Nicolini, D. Villa, A. Scuteri, and M. Simone found that resveratrol acts as an anti-cell death agent on tumor cells that had been treated by a drug called paclitaxel, which is used in cancer chemotherapy.
Researchers from the Dipartimento di Neuroscienze e Tecnologie Biomediche at the Universita degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca in Monza, Italy found that resveratrol can be used as an antineoplastic, to assist in chemotherapy treatments that kill cancer cells.
The study evaluated the anti-cellular death effects of resveratrol and examined the compound’s activity on the body’s cell cycle progression. They found that resveratrol is able to halt the synthesis phase of the cell cycle. This “S-phase” is where DNA replication begins and DNA damage often occurs.
Researchers found that resveratrol doses can increase the levels of several important proteins in S-phase that control the progression of cells through the cell cycle and create cell checkpoints that can halt the cycle if there are problems. Resveratrol supplements also decrease one of the proteins that is frequently observed in a variety of tumors and may contribute to the production of tumors.
Red wine resveratrol was shown to induce an S-phase block that prevents tumor mutations and expressions from entering into the next phases of the cell cycle, thereby preventing the mutation from continuing to grow.
