Scientists discover how red wine and green tea polyphenols stop prostate cancer

Thursday, June 24, 2010 by: Sherry Baker, Health Sciences Editor

(NaturalNews) A major new discovery just reported in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) journal could be a major advance in the treatment of prostate cancer. Not only have the phytonutrients in red wine and green tea been found to halt prostate cancer growth, a team of French and Japanese scientists are reporting they know exactly why this occurs.

Antioxidants known as polyphenols in red wine and green tea produce a combined effect that disrupts an important cell signaling pathway necessary for prostate cancer to thrive. The result? The natural wine and tea components appear to stop or slow the initiation, promotion, and progression of prostate cancer.

The research team conducted lab experiments which showed green tea and wine polyphenols killed prostate cancer cells by inhibitingsphingosine kinase-1/sphingosine 1-phosphate (SphK1/S1P), the cell pathway that's essential for malignancies to survive and thrive. "Not only does SphK1/S1P signaling pathway play a role in prostate cancer, but it also plays a role in other cancers, such as colon cancer, breast cancer, and gastric cancers," Gerald Weissmann, MD, editor-in-chief of the FASEB Journal, pointed out in a statement to the media.

For their research, the scientists studied mice which were genetically altered to develop a human prostate cancer tumor. The rodents were either treated or not treated with green tea and wine polyphenols. The tumors in the mice given the green tea and wine mixture stopped growing.

Then, in order to study the preventive effects of polyphenols, the scientists carried out another experiment using three groups of mice implanted with human prostate cancer cells. One group was given plain drinking water, the second received drinking water with a green tea compound known as EGCg and the third group was given drinking water with a different green tea compound called polyphenon E. The results showed cancerous tumors dramatically decreased in the mice drinking either of the green tea extracts.

"The profound impact that the antioxidants in red wine and green tea have on our bodies is more than anyone would have dreamt just 25 years ago," Dr. Weissmann said in the press statement."As long as they are taken in moderation, all signs show that red wine and green tea may be ranked among the most potent 'health foods' we know."

Editor's note: NaturalNews is opposed to the use of animals in medical experiments that expose them to harm. We present these findings in protest of the way in which they were acquired.