TUESDAY July 8, 2008 (foodconsumer.org) ---Taking the amount
of resveratrol found in a glass of red wine could suppress a carcinogenesis
that would otherwise lead to breast cancer, according to a laboratory study in
the July 2008 issue of Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association
for Cancer Research.
Resveratrol is a naturally occurring phytochemical found in
red wine, red grapes and some nuts. It has been known to provide a range of
health benefits such as prevention of heart disease and cancer.
"Resveratrol has the ability to prevent the first step
that occurs when estrogen starts the process that leads to cancer by blocking
the formation of the estrogen DNA adducts," said Eleanor G. Rogan, Ph.D.,
lead author of the study.
"We believe that this could stop the whole progression
that leads to breast cancer down the road."
Rogan is a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical
Center.
For the current study, Rogan and colleagues measured the
effect of resveratrol on cellular functions known to affect breast cancer.
They found resveratrol was powerful in terms of its suppression
of formation of some estrogen-DNA adducts, which would potentially lead to
development of breast cancer.
The results show as little as 10 umol/L, the amount that
could be found in a glass of red wine, which contains between 9 and 28 umol/L
of resveratrol, would suppress the DNA adducts.
Estrogen is known to fuel growth of breast cancer by
reacting with DNA molecules to form adducts, according to the authors.
What resveratrol suppressed was the expression of CYP1B1 and
the formation of 2,3,7,8-Tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, two known risk factors
for breast cancer, the researchers found.
Rogan was cited in a news release as saying resveratrol
works by inducing an enzyme called quinone reductase, which reduces the
estrogen metabolite back to inactive form.
The real preventive effort in humans needs to be tested in trials,
Rogan said.
Editor's note: Resveratrol is present in red wine, but do not count on red wine to prevent breast cancer. Alcoholic beverages are known carcinogens and boost risk of cancer.
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