New Resveratrol Study Shows Effectiveness Against Cancer
A new study from the U.S.A has shown that drinking between one and two glasses of red wine could help reduce the risk of getting prostate cancer. In the August edition of the Journal of Carcinogenesis, researchers from the University of Alabama discovered that resveratrol, a component of red wine, helped decrease the risk of developing the prostate cancer.
Resveratrol, which has potent antioxidant and anti-cancer effects on the body was fed to mice for 7 months in their food and showed an 87% decrease in the risk of developing prostate cancer. Other mice which were also fed resveratrol, but developed a lesser form of prostate tumor, had a 48% greater chance of the cancer growth slowing or being stopped compared to other mice who did not ingest resveratrol.
This study is just one of many studies into resveratrol which has shown the exceptional benefits of resveratrol consumption. Another study by the University of Alabama in Birmingham from 2006 showed that female mice which were given resveratrol had a sizeable reduction in the risk of breast cancers and tumors.
New research is now being conducted on the benefits of human consumption of resveratrol in regards to cancer as well as the amount of resveratrol required for its remarkable benefits as the amount of resveratrol given to the mice in this study was equivalent to a human consuming about one bottle of red wine per day. However, this research on resveratrol is quite exciting for researchers and will only promote resveratrol as a superfood.
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Current Research In Resveratrol
Below is a snap shot of some of the new, frontline research being conducted on the potential health effects of resveratrol.
- Researchers from the Department of Genetics at Ewha Women’s University in Seoul, Korea released a recent paper on the effect of resveratrol on human neurotypic cells in which dopamine induced cytotoxicity. Dopamine occurs naturally in the brain and acts as an oxidant, causing degeneration of particular neurons. Cells which were pretreated by resveratrol before being treated with dopamine reduced the dopamine-induced toxicity compared to samples not pretreated by resveratrol. The researchers concluded that dopamine was indeed a potential oxidant of neurological cells and that resveratrol may protect these cells against this cytotoxicity. They continued on by stating that resveratrol may be of “biological importance in the prevention of a dopaminergic neurodegenerative disorder such as Parkinson disease.”
- Researchers from the Institute of Neurosurgery in China reviewed the protective effect resveratrol has on cerebral ischemic stroke and the possible mechanism for its effect. They hypothesized that resveratrol supplements, after cerebral ischemia, might be beneficial for brain regeneration.
- Researchers from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil studied the positive effects of resveratrol on acute hydrogen peroxide induced oxidative stress in astrocyte brain cells. The researchers’ results showed that resveratrol did indeed counteract the oxidative damage caused by the hydrogen peroxide; resveratrol has antioxidant properties that prevent oxidative stress. In addition, resveratrol also provides help in important brain functions that contributes to the recovery of the brain after injury.
- A recent study conducted by researchers of the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, China investigated the inhibitory effect of resveratrol on ovarian carcinoma. The study’s results indicated that although resveratrol showed no cytotoxicity on the cancer cells, resveratrol did significantly inhibit migration and adhesion of the cancer cells in vitro. The researchers concluded that resveratrol supplements might potentially inhibit tumor metastasis.
- Researchers from several United State universities including Harvard and MIT reported in the online edition of the Embo Journal the effects thatresveratrol had on the promotion of neuronal survival in mouse models. Resveratrol acts as an activating molecule for the SIRT1 gene. They showed that SIRT1 did indeed promote neuronal survival and is an important link between ageing and certain human neurodegenerative disorders. Furthermore they believe that resveratrol and the SIRT1 gene may provide a valuable avenue for medicinal intervention.
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Why Men Should Be Taking Resveratrol Supplements
As you can see from previous articles exposing the benefits of taking resveratrol supplements, resveratrol has a whole lot going on for it, but did you know that men actually receive a whole lot of extra benefits when taking resveratrol?
A simple reason: resveratrol acts as an estrogen blocker.
E for evil
Estrogen, while generally thought to be present in women, is surprisingly found in men, although in much smaller quantities. The problem with estrogen, however, is some of the negative effects it can have on the body. It is surprising what estrogen can do, especially in males! These are only a few:
· Increase body fat storage
· Reduce muscle mass
· Decrease strength
· Can cause gynecomastia (the development of breast tissue in males)
Not pretty is it?
But wait, there’s more!
Estradiol (the major form of estrogen in the body) can also enter the bloodstream and signal the pituitary gland in the brain to decrease the production of testosterone in the body.
The Good News: Resveratrol
We all agree estrogen has some pretty nasty effects, nonetheless men still need some in their body for optimum health, and here is whyresveratrol is so important. Resveratol acts as an estrogen antagonist (although in some tissues may act as an estrogen agonist); this means that resveratrol works against the production of more estrogen and may even block excess testosterone from turning into estrogen. Increased levels of testosterone will help decrease fat mass, increase muscle mass and strength, increase sex drive and can also increase feelings of well being.
Studies have also shown that resveratol increased the pituitary hormones responsible for testosterone production in the testes by 2.7 times greater than the placebo. And even better news for men, further studies have also shown that resveratrol increased sperm count by 76% – that’s almost double! Furthermore, although high levels of testosterone have often been associated with the increased risk of developing prostate cancer,resveratrol has been found to potentially prevent and treat prostate cancer.
If you were concerned about taking resveratrol supplements in the past, then you can see from here that resveratrol has huge health applications, especially for men. Estrogen can often be a nasty hormone for men and with the help of resveratrol you can help relieve that problem
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