a touch of the grape..

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Red Wine Compound Shown To Prevent Prostate Cancer

Science Daily — Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham

(UAB) have found that nutrients in red wine may help reduce the risk

of developing prostate cancer.

The study involved male mice that were fed a plant compound found in

red wine called resveratrol, which has shown anti-oxidant and

anti-cancer properties. Other sources of resveratrol in the diet

include grapes, raspberries, peanuts and blueberries.

In the study resveratrol-fed mice showed an 87 percent reduction in

their risk of developing prostate tumors that contained the worst kind

of cancer-staging diagnosis. The mice that proved to have the highest

cancer-protection effect earned it after seven months of consuming

resveratrol in a powdered formula mixed with their food.

Other mice in the study, those fed resveratrol but still developed a

less-serious form of prostate cancer, were 48 percent more likely to

have their tumor growth halted or slowed when compared to mice who did

not consume the compound, the UAB research team said.

This study adds to a growing body of evidence that resveratrol

consumption through red wine has powerful chemoprevention properties,

in addition to its apparent heart-health benefits, said lead study

author Coral Lamartiniere, Ph.D., of UAB's Department of Pharmacology

and Toxicology.

An earlier UAB study published May 2006 in the same journal found

resveratrol-fed female mice had considerable reduction in their risk

of breast cancer.

Lamartiniere said his research team has been pleasantly surprised at

the chemoprevention power of wine and berry polyphenols like

resveratrol in animal models.

" A cancer prevention researcher lives for these days when they can

make that kind of finding, " Lamartiniere said. " I drink a glass a day

every evening because I'm concerned about prostate cancer. It runs in

my family. "

Lamartiniere and other researchers say work is already underway to

test resveratrol consumption in humans to see what concentrations are

needed to convey cancer-prevention benefits.

The amounts used in the UAB mice studies were the equivalent of one

person consuming one bottle of red wine per day, which is not

advisable. Since drinking alcohol in excessive amounts can have

harmful health effects, doctors generally recommend moderate red wine

consumption, which is an average of two drinks a day for men and one

drink a day for women.

Lamartiniere's team included researchers from the UAB Department of

Pathology and the Comprehensive Cancer Center. Funding support came

from the U.S. Department of Defense and the National Cancer Institute.

The findings were published in August through the online edition of

the Journal of Carcinogenesis.