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Researchers now understand why taking an investigational white button mushroom supplement shows promise in slowing and even preventing prostate cancer from spreading among men who joined a phase 2 clinical trial studying "food as medicine." Looking at preclinical and preliminary human data, the scientists found that taking white button mushroom pills reduces a class of immune cells called myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs), which has been linked to cancer development and spread. "City of Hope researchers are investigating foods like white button mushroom, grape seed extract, pomegranate, blueberries and ripe purple berries called Jamun for their potential medicinal properties. We're finding...

A team of researchers has found that injecting procyanidin C1 (PCC1), a chemical found in grape seed extract, into older mice extended their lifespan. In their paper, the group describes the link between PCC1 and extended lifespan in mice and the experiments they carried out with the material. Scientists have been trying for many years to understand the aging process. The hope is that once it is understood, mitigation efforts can slow or stop the process to allow people to live longer. The researchers screened plant extracts looking for anti-aging capabilities. They came across PCC1. Initial tests showed it reduced...

When the going gets tough, grape seed extract gets going: A University of Colorado Cancer Center study recently published in the journal Cancer Letters shows that the more advanced are colorectal cancer cells, the more GSE inhibits their growth and survival. On the other end of the disease spectrum, GSE leaves healthy cells alone entirely. "We've known for quite a while that the bioactive compounds in grape seed extract selectively target many types of cancer cells. This study shows that many of the same mutations that allow colorectal cancer cells to metastasize and survive traditional therapies make them especially sensitive...

A team of scientists from the US and China have discovered that grape-seed extract kills laboratory leukemia cells by making them commit suicide, thus showing the potential value of natural compounds in the treatment of cancer. The study was the work of lead author, Dr Xianglin Shi, professor in the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky and colleagues and is published online in the 1 January 2009 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. A number of studies have already revealed that eating fruit and vegetables helps to prevent cancer,...

An extract from grape seeds can destroy cancer cells, US research suggests. In lab experiments, scientists found that the extract stimulated leukaemia cells to commit suicide. Within 24 hours, 76% of leukaemia cells exposed to the extract were killed off, while healthy cells were unharmed, Clinical Cancer Research reports. The study raises the possibility of new cancer treatments, but scientists said it was too early to recommend that people eat grapes to ward off cancer. Grape seeds contain a number of antioxidants, including resveratrol, which is known to have anti-cancer properties, as well as positive effect on the heart. Previous...

An extract from grape seeds forces laboratory leukemia cells to commit cell suicide, according to researchers from the University of Kentucky. They found that within 24 hours, 76 percent of leukemia cells had died after being exposed to the extract... ...While grape seed extract has shown activity in a number of laboratory cancer cell lines, including skin, breast, colon, lung, stomach and prostate cancers, no one had tested the extract in hematological cancers... ..."These results could have implications for the incorporation of agents such as grape seed extract into prevention or treatment of hematological malignancies and possibly other cancers," said...

Chemicals found in grape seeds significantly inhibited growth of colorectal tumors in both cell cultures and in mice, according to researchers who have already demonstrated the extract's anti-cancer effects in other tumor types. Their study, published in the October 18 issue of Clinical Cancer Research, documented a 44 percent reduction of advanced colorectal tumors in the animals, and also revealed, for the first time, the molecular mechanism by which grape seed extract works to inhibit cancer growth. The authors found that it increases availability of a critical protein, Cip1/p21, in tumors that effectively freezes the cell cycle, and often pushes...