Chitika

fredag 16 oktober 2009

Is Resveratrol An Answer To Cancer?

By Riya Peter

Resveratrol is a great phytolexin produced in the plants as a response to the growth of any fungal and bacterial infection within the body. Resveratrol has also been produced by chemical synthesis and is sold as a nutritional supplement. It was extracted for the first time from Japanese knotweed.

In mouse and rat experiments, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, blood-sugar-lowering and other beneficial cardiovascular effects of resveratrol have been reported. Most of these results have yet to be replicated in humans. In the only positive human trial, extremely high doses (3"5 g) of resveratrol in a proprietary formulation have been necessary to significantly lower blood sugar.

Resveratrol is found in the skin of red grapes and is a constituent of red wine, but apparently not in sufficient amounts to explain the French paradox. Experiments have shown that resveratrol treatment extended the life of fruit flies, nematode worms and short-lived fish but it did not increase the life span of mice.

Resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxystilbene) is a polyphenolic phytoalexin. It is a stilbenoid, a derivate of stilbene, and is produced in plants with the help of the enzyme stilbene synthase.

The groups of Howitz and Sinclair reported in 2003 in the journal Nature that resveratrol significantly extends the lifespan of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Later studies conducted by Sinclair showed that resveratrol also prolongs the lifespan of the wormCaenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster.

The groups of Howitz and Sinclair reported in 2003 in the journal Nature that resveratrol significantly extends the lifespan of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Later studies conducted by Sinclair showed that resveratrol also prolongs the lifespan of the wormCaenorhabditis elegans and the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster. In 2007, a different group of researchers was able to reproduce Sinclair's results with Caenorhabditis elegans, but a third group could not achieve consistent increases in lifespan of D. melanogaster or C. elegans.

Later Sinclair reported that resveratrol counteracted the detrimental effects of a high-fat diet in mice. Resveratrol treatment appeared to prevent the development of mammary tumors in animal models; however, it had no effect on the growth of existing tumors. Paradoxically, treatment of pre-pubertal mice with high doses of resveratrol enhanced formation of tumors. Injected in high doses into mice, resveratrol slowed the growth of neuroblastomas.

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