JUNE 30, 12:52 EDT
Study Examines Red Wine Antioxidant
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) ??? Researchers believe they have unlocked the mystery of how an antioxidant found in grapes and red wine fights cancer.
A study published Friday concludes that the compound resveratrol, which acts like an antibiotic to protect grapes from fungus, may turn off a protein that guards cancer cells from cancer-fighting therapies such as chemotherapy.
The research may one day allow the compound itself to be used in cancer prevention and treatment, said Minnie Holmes-McNary, a nutritional biologist at the University of North Carolina's medical school in Chapel Hill.
"The benefit is that it certainly provides an open door for potential therapies," said Holmes-McNary, the study's lead author. That may include taking a pill similar to a vitamin supplement.
The benefits of drinking a glass of red wine have been touted over the past decade after the discovery of the "French paradox" ??? that the French had low rates of heart disease despite high-cholesterol diets. Studies have shown the key may be the glass or two of red table wine at dinner.
A few years ago, researchers found that resveratrol kept cells from turning cancerous and stopped the spread of malignancies. Resveratrol also blocked cell inflammation, which is linked to arthritis and other diseases.
Resveratrol can be found in dozens of foods, including mulberries and peanuts. All wines have some resveratrol, but red wine seems to be its richest source.
Holmes-McNary and co-author Albert Baldwin Jr. at the medical school's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center wanted to know how resveratrol kills cancer cells. Their findings were published in the July issue of the journal Cancer Research.
The researchers used previous research by Baldwin and others that determined the protein called NF-kappa B enabled tumor cells to survive even chemotherapy. When NF-kappa B is blocked in mice ??? as observed last year in a study ??? the cancer cells were eradicated by the chemotherapy.
Holmes-McNary and Baldwin tested how cultured human and animal tumor cells reacted to the resveratrol, learning that it effectively turned off the NF-kappa B cancer gene. Untreated tumors continued to thrive, Holmes-McNary said.
Discovering the mechanisms of resveratrol is important to developing the compound as a cancer-preventive agent for humans, said John Pezzuto, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher who first reported resveratrol's link to red wine and fighting cancer in 1997.
"It's a good contribution," Pezzuto said of the study. "It seems like there are multiple mechanisms. In the end, there may be a common thread to all of them. It's like we're laying down pieces of the puzzle. This is one of those pieces."
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the North Carolina chapter of the American Heart Association, also found muscadine wines contain up to seven times more resveratrol than regular wines.
Friday January 4 2:09 PM ET
World's Oldest Man Dies in Italy, Wine the Secret
By Stephanie Holmes
ROME (Reuters) - The world's oldest man, 112-year-old Antonio Todde, who swore the secret of his longevity was a daily glass of red wine, died overnight on the Italian island of Sardinia, relatives said on Friday.
And in what can only be regarded as a bizarre twist of fate, Italy's oldest woman, 110-year-old Maria Grazia Broccolo, died only hours later in a small town south of Rome.
Friends and relatives were left to reminisce as 222 years of combined Italian history passed away in less than a day.
Todde made it into the Guinness Book of Records when he turned 112 last year and wore his crown of ``The Oldest Living Man on Earth'' with pride and a sense of humor.
``He was lucid to the very end,'' relative Mariolina Todde told Reuters. ``He was always joking that he was going to live to 130. Whenever we had friends round everyone was made to drink to his health. Red wine, of course,'' she said.
Todde's life-promoting tipple was a glass of local red wine, made by his grandson on the same rocky hills around the Sardinian town of Nuoro where he worked as a shepherd.
Broccolo made the headlines two years ago she returned to school to take exams well into a her second century, side by side at the school desks with teenagers.
``She was a real symbol for Italy,'' Paulo Graziano, mayor of her home town, said. ``She was made of very special stuff.''
Todde, a former shepherd-boy, passed away quietly in his sleep after asking to go to bed early, relatives said. ``His blood pressure fell and he left us without a murmur,'' grandson Vanni Todde told Reuters.
He witnessed two world wars, a technological revolution and saw the world's population quadruple but was unfazed by the passing of the years.
``His life was very simple but those 100 years, he lived them to the full,'' said Mariolina, recalling how he liked to play cards with his friends and go for long walks.
Born in a tiny mountain village on January 22, 1889, the same year work on the Eiffel Tower was completed and baby Adolf Hitler took his first breath, Todde scarcely left the village.
He lived his whole life in the same house with his wife of 78 years, Maria-Antonia.
STUDY ON AGEING
Todde's life and those of his fellow islanders is the focus of a scientific project called Akea on aging and longevity.
A remarkable number of Sardinia's 1.6 million inhabitants live through a century. Some 135 people per million live to see their 100th birthday while the western average is nearer 75.
Todde's own family seems a case in point -- his two daughters are 78 and 81 respectively and his sister is 98.
``To discover why Sardinians live so long we are researching the genetic long-life markers,'' Luca Deiana, head of the project, told news agency ANSA.
``We have already taken DNA samples from 337 Sardinian communities so we can look into the genetic and dietary factors that affect long life,'' he added.
Todde, or ``little Antonio'' as he was known, had a simple diet based on pasta, vegetable soup, red meat and cheese.
``He ate everything -- the ravioli pasta we would make at the weekend, the Sunday roast. But he wasn't greedy,'' said Mariolina, grandson Vanni's wife and a youthful 68.
The answer to the oft-posed question of just how he managed it was simple for rosy-cheeked Antonio.
``Just love your brother and drink a good glass of red wine every day,'' he was quoted as saying when he celebrated his 112th birthday last year.
``You take one day after the other, you just go on.''
Thus the question: what caused him to *stop* going on?::
WESTPORT, CT (Reuters Health) Oct 12 - Men who unwind after work with a mug of beer or a glass of wine may be less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their teetotaling peers, results of a new study suggest.
Researchers found that men who consumed 15 to 29 grams of alcohol daily had a 36% lower risk of diabetes over 12 years, compared with men who did not drink and with men who were lighter drinkers. Findings were similar when it came to beer, white wine or liquor.
Heavy drinkers, or those who consumed more than 50 g of alcohol daily, were 39% less likely to develop diabetes, although there were few men in the study who consumed this much alcohol, the researchers note. For this reason, the findings may not apply to all heavy drinkers, according to investigators led by Dr. Katherine M. Conigrave from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts.
Fifty grams of alcohol is roughly equivalent to three or four 12-ounce cans of beer, three or four 5-ounce glasses of wine, or three or four shots of hard liquor.
The report in the October issue of Diabetes also indicates that drinking on at least 5 days of the week provided the best insurance against developing diabetes, even when the amount of alcohol consumed was minimal. Men who drank no more than twice during the week did not have a lower risk of diabetes, the investigators found.
Their findings are based on data from nearly 47,000 middle-aged and elderly male health professionals who answered questions about their drinking habits. The subjects' body mass index and age did not alter the results.
"Decisions about alcohol consumption should consider the full range of benefits and risks to an individual; our data suggest that a reduction in type 2 diabetes may be among the benefits of regular moderate consumption," the researchers write.
The results support those of earlier studies showing an association between moderate alcohol consumption and a lower risk for some chronic disorders, including heart disease and type 2 diabetes, the authors note.
"Our findings suggested that frequent alcohol consumption conveys the greatest protection against type 2 diabetes, even if the level of consumption per drinking day is low," Dr. Conigrave and colleagues conclude.
Diabetes 2001;50:2390-2395.
Circulation 2001 Jun 12;103(23):2792-8
Select flavonoids and whole juice from purple grapes inhibit platelet function and enhance nitric oxide release.
Freedman JE, Parker C 3rd, Li L, Perlman JA, Frei B, Ivanov V, Deak LR, Iafrati MD, Folts JD.
Departments of Pharmacology and Medicine, Georgetown University Medical Center,
Washington, DC 20007, USA.
freedmaj@gunet.georgetown.edu
BACKGROUND: Moderate red wine consumption is inversely associated with coronary ischemia, and both red wine and purple grape juice (PGJ) contain flavonoids with antioxidant and antiplatelet properties believed to be protective against cardiovascular events. Acute cardiac events are also associated with decreased platelet-derived nitric oxide (NO) release. In this study, the effects of PGJ and PGJ-derived flavonoids on platelet function and platelet NO production were determined.
METHODS AND RESULTS: Incubation of platelets with dilute PGJ led to inhibition of aggregation, enhanced release of platelet-derived NO, and decreased superoxide production. To confirm the in vivo relevance of these findings, 20 healthy subjects consumed 7 mL. kg(-1). d(-1) of PGJ for 14 days. Platelet aggregation was inhibited after PGJ supplementation, platelet-derived NO production increased from 3.5 /-1.2 to 6.0 /-1.5 pmol/10(8) platelets, and superoxide release decreased from 29.5 /-5.0 to 19.2 /-3.1 arbitrary units (P<0.007 and P<0.05, respectively). alpha-Tocopherol levels increased significantly after PGJ consumption (from 15.6 /-0.7 to 17.6 /-0.9 micromol/L; P<0.009), and the plasma protein-independent antioxidant activity increased by 50.0% (P<0.05). Last, incubation of platelets with select flavonoid fractions isolated from PGJ consistently attenuated superoxide levels but had variable effects on whole-blood aggregation, platelet aggregation, and NO release.
CONCLUSIONS: Both in vitro incubation and oral supplementation with PGJ decrease platelet aggregation, increase platelet-derived NO release, and decrease superoxide production. These findings may be a result of antioxidant-sparing and/or direct effects of select flavonoids found in PGJ. The suppression of platelet-mediated thrombosis represents a potential mechanism for the beneficial effects of purple grape products, independent of alcohol consumption, in cardiovascular disease.
Publication Types:
Clinical Trial
PMID: 11401934
Circulation 1999 Sep 7;100(10):1050-5
Purple grape juice improves endothelial function and reduces the susceptibility of LDL cholesterol to oxidation in patients with coronary artery disease.
Stein JH, Keevil JG, Wiebe DA, Aeschlimann S, Folts JD.
University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison, WI 53792-3982, USA.
BACKGROUND: In vitro, the flavonoid components of red wine and purple grape juice are powerful antioxidants that induce endothelium-dependent vasodilation of vascular rings derived from rat aortas and human coronary arteries. Although improved endothelial function and inhibition of LDL oxidation may be potential mechanisms by which red wine and flavonoids reduce cardiovascular risk, the in vivo effects of grape products on endothelial function and LDL oxidation have not been investigated. This study assessed the effects of ingesting purple grape juice on endothelial function and LDL susceptibility to oxidation in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD).
METHODS AND RESULTS: Fifteen adults with angiographically documented CAD ingested 7.7 /-1.2 mL. kg(-1). d(-1) of purple grape juice for 14 days. Flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) was measured using high-resolution brachial artery ultrasonography. Susceptibility of LDL particles to oxidation was determined from the rate of conjugated diene formation after exposure to copper chloride. At baseline, FMD was impaired (2.2 /-2. 9%). After ingestion of grape juice, FMD increased to 6.4 /-4.7% (P=0.003). In a linear regression model that included age, artery diameter, lipid values, and use of lipid-lowering and antioxidant therapies, the effect of grape juice on FMD remained significant (mean change 4.2 /-4.4%, P<0.001). After ingestion of grape juice, lag time increased by 34.5% (P=0.015). CONCLUSIONS: Short-term ingestion of purple grape juice improves FMD and reduces LDL susceptibility to oxidation in CAD patients. Improved endothelium-dependent vasodilation and prevention of LDL oxidation are potential mechanisms by which flavonoids in purple grape products may prevent cardiovascular events, independent of alcohol content.
PMID: 10477529
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 1999 Mar 2;96(5):2385-90
Inhibition of advanced glycation endproduct formation by acetaldehyde: role in the cardioprotective effect of ethanol.
Al-Abed Y, Mitsuhashi T, Li H, Lawson JA, FitzGerald GA, Founds H, Donnelly T, Cerami A, Ulrich P, Bucala R
Picower Institute for Medical Research, 350 Community Drive, Manhasset, NY 10030, USA.
Epidemiological studies suggest that there is a beneficial effect of moderate ethanol consumption on the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Ethanol is metabolized to acetaldehyde, a two-carbon carbonyl compound that can react with nucleophiles to form covalent addition products. We have identified a biochemical modification produced by the reaction of acetaldehyde with protein-bound Amadori products. Amadori products typically arise from the nonenzymatic addition of reducing sugars (such as glucose) to protein amino groups and are the precursors to irreversibly bound, crosslinking moieties called advanced glycation endproducts, or AGEs. AGEs accumulate over time on plasma lipoproteins and vascular wall components and play an important role in the development of diabetes- and age-related cardiovascular disease. The attachment of acetaldehyde to a model Amadori product produces a chemically stabilized complex that cannot rearrange and progress to AGE formation. We tested the role of this reaction in preventing AGE formation in vivo by administering ethanol to diabetic rats, which normally exhibit increased AGE formation and high circulating levels of the hemoglobin Amadori product, HbA1c, and the hemoglobin AGE product, Hb-AGE. In this model study, diabetic rats fed an ethanol diet for 4 weeks showed a 52% decrease in Hb-AGE when compared with diabetic controls (P < 0.001). Circulating levels of HbA1c were unaffected by ethanol, pointing to the specificity of the acetaldehyde reaction for the post-Amadori, advanced glycation process. These data suggest a possible mechanism for the so-called "French paradox," (the cardioprotection conferred by moderate ethanol ingestion) and may offer new strategies for inhibiting advanced glycation.
PMID: 10051651, UI: 99162614
White wine even better for you than red, research finds
by Catherine Woods
2 May 2001
White wine could prevent the development of a range of diseases affecting the bones and joints, according to research presented at the Wine and Health conference in Palo Alto, California, last weekend.
Experiments commissioned by Friulian producer, Co-op of Cormons, and the German Wine Institute found that white wine is actually better for you than red because of its smaller molecules.
It contains the compounds tyrosol and caffeic acid, which act as anti-inflammatories and anti-oxidants, possibly preventing conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and osteoporosis.
The report said two glasses of white wine a day could lead to a reduced inflammatory reaction, but warned that higher consumption appeared to cancel out these benefits.
It seems that relatively small molecules are at least partially accountable for white wine's health-giving effects. Dr Alberto Bertelli (pictured), a researcher at the University of Milan, who worked on the project told decanter.com, 'The beneficial compounds in white wine are smaller than those in red and so more easily absorbed into the bloodstream.'
Dr Bertelli also stressed that it was only in wine that the compounds became effective. 'The active compounds are also present in unfermented white grape juice and extra virgin olive oil, but it is only after fermentation that they are small enough to be efficiently absorbed by humans,' he said, adding that over-zealous filtering and clarifying would remove the all-important compounds from the wine.
The most exciting message for white wine buffs is that this is just the beginning. Research is soon to start on sparkling wines, and Dr Bertelli says early results from other projects indicates de-alcoholised white wine extract has properties that may prevent cardiovascular disease in rats.
Friday June 30 12:53 PM ET
Study Examines Red Wine Antioxidant
By GARY D. ROBERTSON, Associated Press Writer
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Researchers believe they have unlocked the mystery of how an antioxidant found in grapes and red wine fights cancer.
A study published Friday concludes that the compound resveratrol, which acts like an antibiotic to protect grapes from fungus, may turn off a protein that guards cancer cells from cancer-fighting therapies such as chemotherapy.
The research may one day allow the compound itself to be used in cancer prevention and treatment, said Minnie Holmes-McNary, a nutritional biologist at the University of North Carolina's medical school in Chapel Hill.
"The benefit is that it certainly provides an open door for potential therapies," said Holmes-McNary, the study's lead author. That may include taking a pill similar to a vitamin supplement.
The benefits of drinking a glass of red wine have been touted over the past decade after the discovery of the "French paradox" - that the French had low rates of heart disease despite high-cholesterol diets. Studies have shown the key may be the glass or two of red table wine at dinner.
A few years ago, researchers found that resveratrol kept cells from turning cancerous and stopped the spread of malignancies. Resveratrol also blocked cell inflammation, which is linked to arthritis and other diseases.
Resveratrol can be found in dozens of foods, including mulberries and peanuts. All wines have some resveratrol, but red wine seems to be its richest source.
Holmes-McNary and co-author Albert Baldwin Jr. at the medical school's Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center wanted to know how resveratrol kills cancer cells. Their findings were published in the July issue of the journal Cancer Research.
The researchers used previous research by Baldwin and others that determined the protein called NF-kappa B enabled tumor cells to survive even chemotherapy. When NF-kappa B is blocked in mice - as observed last year in a study - the cancer cells were eradicated by the chemotherapy.
Holmes-McNary and Baldwin tested how cultured human and animal tumor cells reacted to the resveratrol, learning that it effectively turned off the NF-kappa B cancer gene. Untreated tumors continued to thrive, Holmes-McNary said.
Discovering the mechanisms of resveratrol is important to developing the compound as a cancer-preventive agent for humans, said John Pezzuto, a University of Illinois at Chicago researcher who first reported resveratrol's link to red wine and fighting cancer in 1997.
"It's a good contribution," Pezzuto said of the study. "It seems like there are multiple mechanisms. In the end, there may be a common thread to all of them. It's like we're laying down pieces of the puzzle. This is one of those pieces."
The study, funded by the National Institutes of Health and the North Carolina chapter of the American Heart Association, also found muscadine wines contain up to seven times more resveratrol than regular wines.
Food Chem Toxicol 1999 Apr;37(4):271-85
Antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects of prenylated flavonoids from hops
(Humulus lupulus) in human cancer cell lines.
Miranda CL, Stevens JF, Helmrich A, Henderson MC, Rodriguez RJ, Yang YH,
Deinzer ML, Barnes DW, Buhler DR
Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology, Oregon State
University, Corvallis 97331, USA.
Six flavonoids from hops (Humulus lupulus) were tested for their
antiproliferative activity in human breast cancer (MCF-7), colon cancer
(HT-29) and ovarian cancer (A-2780) cells in vitro. XN, DX and IX caused a
dose-dependent (0.1 to 100 microM) decrease in growth of all cancer cells.
After a 2-day treatment, the concentrations at which the growth of MCF-7
cells was inhibited by 50% (IC50) were 13.3, 15.7 and 15.3 microM for XN, DX
and IX, respectively. After a 4-day treatment, the IC50 for XN, DX and IX
were 3.47, 6.87 and 4.69 microM, respectively. HT-29 cells were more
resistant than MCF-7 cells to these flavonoids. In A-2780 cells, XN was
highly antiproliferative with IC50 values of 0.52 and 5.2 microM after 2 and
4 days of exposure, respectively. At 100 microM, all the hop flavonoids were
cytotoxic in the three cell lines. Growth inhibition of XN- and IX-treated
MCF-7 cells was confirmed by cell counting. XN and IX inhibited DNA synthesis
in MCF-7 cells. As antiproliferative agents, XN (chalcone) and IX (flavanone
isomer of XN) may have potential chemopreventive activity against breast and
ovarian cancer in humans.
Am J Epidemiol 1999 Jan 15;149(2):93-101
Alcohol consumption and risk of breast cancer: the Framingham Study revisited.
Zhang Y, Kreger BE, Dorgan JF, Splansky GL, Cupples LA, Ellison RC
Evans Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, MA 02118,
USA.
Although many studies report that moderate-to-heavy alcohol intake increases
breast cancer risk, the effect of light alcohol consumption remains
controversial, and a consistent pattern of association with different types
of alcoholic beverages is not evident. The authors examined the relation of
average alcohol consumption and of different beverages to the risk of breast
cancer in the Framingham Study (Framingham, Massachusetts). Of 2,764 women
followed more than 40 years in the Original Cohort from 1948 to 1993 and
2,284 followed up to 24 years in the Offspring Cohort from 1971 to 1993, 221
and 66 incident breast cancer cases occurred, respectively. Breast cancer
incidence decreased from 3.60 per 1,000 person-years to 2.47, 2.30, and 2.33
in increasing categories of average alcohol consumption (none, <5.0, 5.0-<
15.0, and >or = 15.0 g/day) among the Original Cohort and from 3.07 to 1.26,
1.24, and 2.22, respectively, among the Offspring Cohort. With the two
cohorts combined, multivariate-adjusted rate ratios of breast cancer in each
increased category of alcohol consumption were 1.0 (nondrinkers), 0.8 (95%
confidence interval (CI) 0.6-1.1), 0.7 (95% CI 0.5-1.1), and 0.7 (95% CI
0.5-1.1), respectively. Breast cancer was not associated with wine, beer, or
spirits consumption when assessed separately. The findings suggest that the
light consumption of alcohol or any type of alcoholic beverage is not
associated with increased breast cancer risk.
Int J Cancer 1998 Dec 9;78(6):707-11
Alcohol and other beverage use and prostate cancer risk among Canadian men.
Jain MG, Hislop GT, Howe GR, Burch JD, Ghadirian P
Cancer Epidemiology Unit, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of
Toronto, Canada.
meera.jain@utoronto.ca
There are very few large scale studies that have examined the association of
prostate cancer with alcohol and other beverages. This relationship was
examined in a case-control study conducted in 3 geographical areas of Canada
with 617 incident cases and 637 population controls. Complete
history of beverage intake was assessed by a personal interview with
reference to a 1-year period prior to diagnosis or interview. In age- and
energy-adjusted models for all centers combined, the odds ratio (OR) for the
highest quintile of total alcohol intake was 0.89. For alcoholic beverages
separately, it was 0.68 for the highest tertile of beer, 1.12 for wine and
0.86 for liquor. The decreasing trend was significant for beer intake. The
results were only significant for British Columbia out of all the 3 centers
studied. Whereas coffee and cola intake was not associated with prostate
cancer, a decrease in risk was observed with tea intake of more than 500 g
per day (OR 0.70). Our results do not support a positive association between
total alcohol, coffee and prostate cancer.
That enough for ya?
relax, enjoy the wine LAM enjoy the wine
Though don`t think I didn`t notice that you fattened the post to give it more crediblity by adding research on white wine when your original comment was RED WINE = SO ACE...... 