Grape seed extract the new cure for leukemia?

Tuesday April 7, 2009 (foodconsumer.org) -- Chinese Medicine News reports that research from an alliance of the University of Kentucky and China’s 3rd Military and Medical University of Chongging has discovered that leukemia cells exposed to grape seed extracts end up committing “suicide” after said exposure. Researchers exposed leukemia ridden cells to the extract, and then discovered that 76% of them were dead within 24 hours.

There are many antioxidant-inducing qualities of fruits and vegetables. The flavanol found in grape seeds, proanthocyanidin, is what causes apoptosis, or cell death. And although grape seed extract has been studied in conjunction with breast and colon cancer, its affect on hematological cancers (leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma) was largely unknown.

The study’s lead author, Xianglin Shi, Ph.D., who is a professor at the Graduate Center for Toxicology at the University of Kentucky, says the implications of using the extract as part of a treatment regimen are great. And although it’s too early to tell if consuming grapes and grape seeds can prevent the onset of cancer, undeniably it helps circumvent the proliferation of cancer cells once they’ve invaded the body. Researchers exposed the cancerous cells to varying amounts of the extract; the higher the amount, the greater the effect on the cancer cell.

Dr. Shi also reported that research is being done to find substances that attack cancerous cells vigorously while leaving healthy cells alone. The good news is that grape seed extract certainly fits the bill in this regard. And the fact that this is a natural compound is proverbial icing on the cake.

(By Rachel Stockton, and edited by Heather Kelley)