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Can Resveratrol Prevent Breast Cancer
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Studies have shown that
Resveratrol, a nutrient found in red wine, keeps estrogen from causing breast cancer. It has been studied that prolonged exposure to estrogen is a risk factor for developing breast cancer, in fact most research has focused on the interactions between estrogen and estrogen receptors on breast cancer cells. But the imbalance in the body's system for processing estrogen is when dangerous estrogen metabolites appear. These toxic compounds react with DNA in breast cells and kick off the growth of tumors.
Eleanor G. Rogan, PhD and her team at the University of Nebraska have shown that resveratrol decreases the processing of estrogen into these dangerous compounds. Resveratrol also may block interactions between estrogen metabolites and cellular DNA. On top of this it was found that resveratrol increases production of an enzyme that destroys dangerous estrogen metabolites.
'Resveratrol has the ability to prevent the first step that occurs when estrogen starts the process that leads to cancer,' Dr. Rogan stated in a press release. There is still a long way from showing that resveratrol can actually prevent cancer in women. Another positive signal is that Resveratrol has had anticancer effects at very low doses. 'This is dramatic because it was able to be done with fairly low concentrations of resveratrol,' said Dr. Rogan.
Resveratrol concentration of 10 micromoles per litre was able to prevent estrogen metabolites from interacting with DNA, so for arguments sake, a glass of red wine has a resveratrol concentration between 9 and 28 micromoles per litre, but a person normally would not drink a litre of red wine.
A study in the U.K. suggested that even very high doses of resveratrol do not achieve blood concentrations as high as those needed for anticancer effects. Resveratrol is a naturally occurring antioxidant found in the skins of red grapes, red wine, red or purple grape juice, peanuts, blueberries, and cranberries and also available in dietary supplements.
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Can Resveratrol Increase Ones Lifespan?
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Resveratrol is a phytonutrient molecule, it is a polyphenolic phytoalexin found in grape skins and red wine that has been proved to have antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Resveratrol has strong antioxidant and anti-tumorigenic activities along with important protective effects on the nervous system and more.
Resveratrol has been seen to inhibit the proliferation of different kinds of cancer cell lines, including those from breast, prostate, stomach, colon, pancreatic, and thyroid cancers. Recently, reports on the potential for resveratrol to inhibit the development of cancer and extend lifespan in cell culture and animal models have generated lot of scientific interest.
Clinical trials are underway to address this question and to also find out if resveratrol might be useful in cancer treatment. There is an extensive and increasing amount of work devoted to the possible links between diet and a reduction in the risk of breast cancer as well as other types of cancer. It has been found recently that resveratrol could inhibit a number of cellular events linked with the initiation, promotion, and progression of cancer.
Researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging report that a natural substance in red wine , known as resveratrol, offsets the bad effects of a high-calorie diet in mice and significantly increases their lifespan. Research at the Northeastern Ohio Universities College of Medicine and Ohio State University has proven that resveratrol has direct inhibitory action on cardiac fibroblasts and may also inhibit the progression of cardiac fibrosis. Researchers also discovered that the liver and other systems in obese mice remained healthy (when they should not have) and fat related deaths reduced thirty one percent for those mice who were given a resveratrol supplement .
Research by Harvard Medical School Professor of Pathology David Sinclair, MD has shown that resveratrol extends the life span of mice by about twenty four percent and that of other animals by as great as fifty nine percent. This research looks specifically at the expression of genes known to be affected by aging in several important tissue types. The group explored the influence of the agent on heart, muscle and brain by focusing on the changes in gene expression in those tissues.
Insulin and glucose levels in mice on the high fat plus resveratrol diet were closer to the mice on standard diet than to the mice on the high fat diet. Resveratrol again showed changes associated with longer lifespan, including increased insulin sensitivity, reduced insulin like growth factor-1 levels, increased AMP activated protein kinase and peroxisome proliferator activated receptor-gamma coactivator 1alpha activity, increased mitochondrial number, and improved motor function. However, resveratrol treatment had no significant effect on body weight, serum cholesterol, radial bone growth, epithelial cell height, or messenger RNA levels for insulin-like growth factor I.
Resveratrol supplements on the market today may have anywhere from 10 to 150 mg of resveratrol per pill, but the effective doses for chronic disease prevention in humans are not yet known. Resveratrol has not been seen to be toxic or cause adverse effects in humans, but there have been very few controlled clinical trials to date. However since there have been no studies in humans, it is not possible to say how much resveratrol is needed to create health benefits.
The amount of resveratrol in food varies a lot. Resveratrol is a great antioxidant in any potency to bring down oxidative stress, improve the immune system, cardiovascular system, and all other parts of the body that benefit from antioxidants.
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