COPD, PREGNANCY, HARDENING OF ARTERIES, PROSTATE CANCER

Welcome.  Thank you for investing a bit of your valuable time to this blog on resveratrol.  I will try to be brief but concise so that you will leave feeling it was worth your time.  This is already free so you can't say it was not worth your money, but you can say it was not worth your time. 

#1 COPD The researchers at Imperial College London in the United Kingdom looked at gero protectors (protecting from aging) and COPD (the lung condition also known as chronic bronchitis or emphysema).  COPD is a disease of aging which presents more and more problems as you get older.  They reviewed a variety of articles of COPD and aging and concluded that slowing aging will slow the progression of COPD.  They also reviewed the antiaging properties of resveratrol.  Their conclusion was that resveratrol "might be an attractive approach for the treatment of COPD  by preventing premature aging of the lung.”

Int J Chron Obstruct Pulm Dis 2012:7; 641–52

#2 Pregnancy: Protection of the fetus from Kusturba Medical College in Mangalore, India comes a  study of the known neuroprotective effects of resveratrol on a fetus whose mother is subjected to stress.  Pregnant rats were restrained to induce stress.  Half were given resveratrol and the other half not.  The babies were born and they were put through learning tests such as the open field test and the Morris water maze.  Gestational stress affected spatial learning and memory.  Resveratrol  reversed these learning deficits.  There was a “neuroprotective  efficacy of resveratrol  against prenatal stress induced cognitive impairment.”  It is safe.  Think about resveratrol in stressful pregnancies. 

Pharmacal Biochem Behav  2012 October 5: 270–5

#3 Hardening of the arteries The Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola New York looked at prevention of vascular disease.  Arterial plaques, or hardening of the arteries leading to stroke, heart attack, or peripheral vascular disease is caused by cells lining the arteries, called macrophages, eating cholesterol and growing and blocking blood flow.  In cells given resveratrol they took up less cholesterol, slowing the growth of plaques and arteries.  A safe way to prevent problems, especially in high-risk patients.  Eur J Pharmacol 2012, October 736–44

#4 Prostate cancer The University of Missouri published a study on prostate cancer cells which continued to grow after the patient had radiation and failed.  These cells were exposed to resveratrol and reradiated (the original owner had died but the cells lived on).  Exposure to radiation after resveratrol resulted in cell deaths.  There are no known studies on prostate cancer and patients on resveratrol before radiation therapy,  but again, it is safe and has a potential benefit in men considering radiation for prostate cancer.  Cancer side 2012 June 1 09 0–8

#5 Prostate cancer From the University Hospital at Leuven, Belgium comes a review study on resveratrol and prostate cancer.  Several studies have shown a protective effect on preventing prostate cancer.  Patients with high-grade PIN, a pre cancerous change in prostate cells at high risk for progression to prostate cancer as well as patients with increased PSA or positive family history of prostate cancer were followed.  The risk of recurrence decreased for those on resveratrol .  Do you see a pattern here?  Cancer Manag Res 2011:3; 91–100

#6 Prostate cancer and chemotherapy A study from M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston looked at chemotherapy drugs and prostate cancer.  A variety of cancer drugs were used against cell cultures of prostate cancer cells, half of which were  given small amounts of resveratrol.  Those exposure to resveratrol had better cancer killing results in combination with chemotherapy than without.  Ann NY Acad Sci 2011 Jan 150–60

Several examples of situations where a safe addition to your daily intake (resveratrol) could help improve or prevent a variety of different health issues.  I think this is worth considering and worth sharing with others.  Until next time.

Dr. Bob