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Research Supports Disease-Preventive Role of Fruits
BY DEIRDRE HEALEY
It's long been known that drinking red grape juice or wine has the potential to help fight off breast cancer. But a new U of G study is the first to pinpoint one of the reasons why.
Profs. Gopi Paliyath, Plant Agriculture, and Kelly Meckling, Human Health and Nutritional Sciences, have discovered that polyphenols found in red grapes can inhibit the establishment of cancer cells by suppressing the expression of certain genes that lead to tumour development.
“Our results support the disease-preventive role of fruits in the diet,” says Paliyath. “When people consume red grapes or juice, the concentration of polyphenols in the body can increase. Maintaining a certain level of polyphenols may lead to the destruction of mutated or abnormal cells, preventing their establishment and the development of cancer.”
The study, set to be published in the Journal of Nutrition Research, involved feeding mice polyphenols extracted from Merlot grapes and red wine. The mice were then injected with estrogen-receptor negative breast cancer cells.
“This type of breast cancer does not respond to most treatment and requires more rigorous chemotherapy, so finding dietary strategies that may prevent it is of great interest,” says Paliyath.
The researchers found that the polyphenols significantly reduced the growth rate of the injected cancer cells and prevented the establishment of a tumour by suppressing certain genes involved in enhancing cell division.
Although both grape and wine polyphenols were successful in preventing tumour growth, the grape polyphenols were slightly more effective, probably because the mice were able to absorb them better, says Paliyath.
“The research suggests that basically it might be better for you to drink red grape juice rather than red wine because one can consume large amounts of juice without the negative effects of alcohol.”
In previous research, he and Meckling showed that polyphenols can also arrest established breast cancer cells by interfering with the cells' mitochondrial function, which leads to their self-destruction.
“Ultimately, the consumption of grapes, grape juice and red wine may provide multiple levels of protection against breast cancer,” says Paliyath.