BONE HEALING, CARDIO PROTECTION, ANTIDEPRESSANT

More great research being done...

Bone healing--From Paulista University in Sao Paolo, Brazil comes a study on the healing of bone in a rat on resveratrol.  2 different studies were done on the rats at the same time.  A cut was made through bone in the skull,  and screws were placed into a leg bone.  30 days later the rats were sacrificed and bony healing was examined.  The rats on resveratrol had more rapid and more advanced healing in the skull incision.  The metal screw placed into the leg bone had more complete healing and a stronger formation of bone around the metal implant when compared to the healing in the rats that were not on resveratrol supplementation.  Resveratrol is a safe and readily available supplement and definitely worth consuming by someone anticipating any kind of orthopedic procedure including joint replacement.  It would also be a good supplement for anyone at risk of falling with the possibility of a fracture.  PMID 24530035

Cardio protection--from Tunisia comes a study on the protective effect of resveratrol on heart muscle after loss of blood flow.  Half of a group of rats was given resveratrol and the other half was not.  Each of the rats then had a clamp placed on one of the arteries to the heart muscle simulating a heart attack.  After a fixed period of time the clamp was removed.  This would simulate an angioplasty or a bypass returning blood supply to that portion of the heart.  All the rats were later sacrificed and examined.  Before their death there was improved muscle function of the heart in the rats on resveratrol.  Upon autopsy, the rats on resveratrol had less muscle damage and overall had healthier heart tissue.  This is most likely because of its antioxidant properties and should be seriously considered by cardiac patient's.  Again, this is a supplement that  is safe and available.  PMI D24523766

Antidepressant--a study was published from Pennsylvania State University on the anti- depressive effects of resveratrol.  This was a study done on rats subjected to depression inducing circumstances.  Brain changes were measured in all of the rats.  Half of them were started on resveratrol and all of the wraps were re- subjected to the depression inducing stimuli.  Resveratrol exerted an antidepressant-like effect similar to desipramine.  This is  a prescription antidepressant drugs similar to imipramine (Tofranil) or amitriptyline (Elavil).  This is a benefit which I have not previously reported on.  PMI D 24523766 

There are so many wonderful reasons to take resveratrol (Vivix) on a regular basis!  

Until next time…Dr. Bob Biggers 

PROSTATE CANCER

Welcome back to Dr. Bob's Blog 2014

Prostate Cancer—With the aging population, Prostate cancer will become a growing problem and raises an awareness of the need for chemoprevention.  Two prescription medications lower the risk of the development of prostate cancer.  Natural products are also being tested as a potentially lower priced alternative.  Several have been tested including resveratrol, which have been shown to decrease the progression of high risk patients to the development of full blown prostate cancer.  The results are promising enough that there is new research going on now.  PMID 21629831

Prostate Cancer—There is a strain of rats which get prostate cancer when exposed to a chemical called SV40T.  A group of these rats were given SV40T, half of which were given resveratrol and the other half not.  These are rats who did not already have prostate cancer but put at risk for getting it.   Those taking resveratrol had a lowered rate of prostate cancer showing that it can be prevented in a high risk situation.  People at high risk, such as men with a rising PSA, or high risk pre-cancerous changes on biopsy,  or family history of prostate cancer could benefit now from resveratrol which is safe and available without waiting for definitive proof.   PMID18439064

Until Next Time…Dr. Bob

CANCER (Colon, Breast, Prostate, Lymphoid, Myeloid, and more)

Thank you once again for joining us in our ongoing review of medical articles regarding resveratrol.  This month we are going to concentrate on 3 review articles on cancer and the ongoing research with resveratrol.  Something new to this blog is the PMID number at the end of each article.  If you go to www.pubmed.com you  will be able to put the number into the search block which will then take you to that specific article.

Cancer.   From the University of Wisconsin in Madison comes an article on cancer prevention.  For cancer of the lung, colon, breast or prostate, the outlook for patient in whom the cancer has already spread is grim.  There are four cancers in this country that account for more than half of all cancer deaths in the United States.  One alternative to dealing with metastatic cancer is to prevent them altogether.  They review the use of non-toxic agents as to prevent the cancers.  They then concentrate on resveratrol and its proven ability to protect against several cancer types.  This paper breaks down the research for each of the different cancers.  The authors then urge more human trials for cancer prevention by resveratrol.  PMID 12792772

Cancer.  From M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston comes an article on the prevention and treatment of cancer, concentrating on resveratrol.  Many articles in medical journals shows  the anticancer properties of resveratrol against lymphoid and myeloid cancers, multiple myeloma, cancers of the breast, prostate, stomach, colon, pancreas, and thyroid, melanoma, head and neck cancers.,  ovarian cancer and cervical cancer.  They aid in stopping cell division of the cancer cells and block the in- growth of new blood vessels to supply increased blood flow to the cancer cells.  This occurs at many different steps in a series of chemical reactions and results in both prevention and therapy against many cancers.  The few human studies that have been done show that resveratrol is safe.  To date, the bulk of research has been done in either lab animals or cell cultures and is promising.  PMID15517885

Cancer.  Also from the University of Wisconsin is an article on the use of resveratrol in combination with traditional chemotherapy agents.  They review several articles showing both the preventative effect and a therapeutic effect of resveratrol against certain cancers.  They also reviewed recent publications suggesting how useful resveratrol is when given in combination with chemotherapy agents.  They have an additive effect resulting in a decrease in the dose of chemotherapy.  This results in decreased side effects and decreased toxicity along with increased effectiveness.  PMID 23855473

Hopefully you find these articles as interesting and useful as I did.  The use of the new p.m. PMID numbers should be of value as well.  Until next month.

Dr Bob

BREAST CANCER

Breast Cancer

#1  Breast cancer  A study from the National Institute on Aging in Baltimore looked at mice who were given resveratrol and then implanted with breast cancer cells.  When compared with the mice not given resveratrol, the study group had a dramatic decrease in the amount of spread of cancer cells to the lungs.  This was done at low doses and could benefit breast cancer patients.

J Immunol 2013 Oct 15: 4141-4151 

#2  Breast cancer  This study from Mexico City looked at breast cancer cells in cell cultures.  These cells were exposed to doxorubicin which is one of the more effective chemotherapy agents against breast cancer.  Half of the cells were previously exposed to resveratrol.  The presence of resveratrol prior to exposure to doxorubicin enhanced the ability of the drug to kill the cancer cells.  Further studies are looking at using resveratrol clinically prior to or with exposure to doxorubicin in breast cancer patients.  PLoS 2013 May 27

#3 Breast cancer Another study on breast cancer comes from Saudi Arabia and is also looking at doxorubicin in the treatment of breast cancer.  This also was a study using cancer cells in cell cultures.  Despite the fact that this is a good drug for breast cancer, one of the major side effects is damage to the heart muscle.  This can limit the use of the drug.  This study was looking at combining resveratrol which increases the ability to kill cancer cells with lower doses of the doxorubicin.  This in turn would lower the potential damage to heart muscle cells without compromising the effect on the cancer cells, making the drug safer and at least as effective.

Cancer Cell Int 2012 Nov 16 

 #4  Breast cancer  A study from the University of Oklahoma is looking at the use of resveratrol in combination with radiation therapy for breast cancer.  Radiation along with chemotherapy and surgery are the three cornerstones of treatment for breast cancer.  The use of radiation can be limited because of side effects from the amount of radiation needed to cause cell deaths.  In the study,  cancer cells in cell cultures were divided in half and half were given resveratrol in advance.  All of the cells were then exposed to radiation.  The resveratrol resulted in sensitizing the cancer cells to radiation resulting in a much more effective induction of cell death in those cells pretreated with resveratrol, making radiation more effective and safer.

Radiat Oncol 2013, Mar 4

  Thank You, 

   Bob Biggers MD 

COLON CANCER

Colon Cancer

From the American University of Beirut Medical Center comes a study on colon cancer.  Colon cancer is one of the cancers that has a step wise development from normal tissue to benign adenomas to colon cancer.  Several factors have been identified in this step- wise process, including Cox-2.  Cox-2 inhibitors can prevent the formation of colon adenomas and subsequent progression into cancer of the colon.  The drugs which can inhibit Cox-2 have toxicity and are not safe.  Resveratrol is a preventive agent that is able to block the pathways in the production of benign colon tumors and subsequent colon cancer making it an attractive candidate for further research. Int J Mol Sci  Aug 2013, 1107

Colon Cancer

From Gifu University in Japan comes a study of colon cancer cells growing in and studied in cell media.  These cells were resistant to the chemotherapy agent 5-FU but when mixed with resveratrol, cell growth was stopped.  This is yet another study where Resveratrol can sensitize cancer cells to standard chemotherapy drugs, exerting an anticancer activity safely by slowing their growth and speeding up the time to natural cancer cell death.

J Nutr Biochem Aug 2013

To Healthy Living...Dr. Bob Biggers

HUMAN STUDIES ON WEIGHT, OBESITY, HEART DISEASE AND LUNG CANCER

Welcome back to my blog on resveratrol.  As we had discussed in the past most of the research has been done either in the lab in the last issues with cells and cell cultures or a lap band moles.  Recently there has been an increase in human research and there are 4 separate review articles published recently in the medical journals based on human research.  I would like to do a quick review of this group of articles.  It is encouraging that more research is currently being done on clinical conditions in people.

The first article is from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and is regarding the health benefits of resveratrol and obesity and adult onset diabetes.  Rodent studies in the past have shown that resveratrol does improve a variety of metabolic problems.  The authors have a short review of those recent articles currently available which examined the beneficial effects of resveratrol on obesity and type 2 diabetes in humans.  Ann N Y  Acad Sci July 2013: 83-9

A second article comes from Denmark looking at an overview of the treatment of metabolic diseases and obesity.  Resveratrol promotes longevity in a variety of species and protects against diet-induced metabolic abnormalities in rodents.  This report is a review article giving a brief overview on the future scientific directions of resveratrol research in humans.  Ann N Y  Acad Sci July 2013: 74-82

A third article from the same Journal comes from a research group in Spain.  They are looking at both primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease.  Primary prevention would be avoiding a first event in patients not yet diagnosed with heart disease.  Secondary prevention would be to avoid new events in patients who have established heart disease.  The researchers are looking at the Cardio- protective effects of resveratrol.  They reviewed studies done in humans at risk for cardiovascular disease and focused on the two longest human trials each with one year of follow up.  There was a statistically significant change in the cardiovascular risk markers in patients on resveratrol. Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013: 37-51

The final article is on the management of human cancer using resveratrol.  The strongest research has been in the prevention of cancer in the presence of chemicals that caused the cancer to develop, called carcinogens.  Resveratrol is being studied for both the prevention and treatment of a variety of cancers.  This is something that is safe with minimal toxicity and readily available.  This article reviews the studies done on cancer in humans and the role of resveratrol in recent years.  Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013:  12-20

It is encouraging to see ongoing research both in the pure science realm and in human clinical research.  We are currently looking at the early stages but with a great deal of promise in terms of potential benefit in the future.  Until next time.

                                                                        Dr. Bob