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Last Updated: Aug 1, 2008 - 10:24:18 AM |
Drinking Concord grape juice may protect against the development of breast cancer, suggests a new study appearing in a recent issue of Cancer Letters.
The study, sponsored by Welch's - the world's leading marketer of Concord and Niagara grape-based products, found drinking Concord grape juice reduced the DNA damage to the mammary glands and inhibited the formation of breast tumors in laboratory rats.
A cancer develops in at least two stages, initiation and promotion. During the first stage, carcinogens cause damages to cells' DNA and during the second stage, the damaged cells grow into tumors.
"This study looked at the early, or initiation, stage of cancer development and saw that consuming Concord grape juice actually suppressed the growth of tumors as well as reduced damage to the mammary gland's DNA," explained study senior author, Keith Singletary, Ph.D., Professor of Nutrition, Department of Food Science & Human Nutrition, University of Illinois.
One previous study also showed grape juice possesses a chemopreventive activity.
"These studies indicate that specific constituents or combinations of phytochemicals in Concord grape juice can block the initiation stage of tumor formation," Singletary explained.
"With the results of this study combined with the previous one, we see Concord grape juice having a suppressive effect on both stages of cancer development,"
Researchers believe the antitumor properties in grape juice may be due to the presence of phytochemicals, particularly polyphenols. Many previous studies linked consumption of fruits and vegetables with an abundant amount of phytochemicals tend to lower cancer risk.
Purple grape juice from Concord grapes contains a higher amount of proanthocyanidins than other beverages including red wine and cranberry juice cocktail, Welchs said, citing the USDA proanthocyanidin database. The antioxidant capacity of Concord grape juice is also among the highest of all foods.
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