Grape anti-cancer effect

The research is reported in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Components in grapes have been found to work in concert to inhibit an enzyme crucial to the proliferation of cancer cells. The effects of the components, including some newly identified, were discovered using molecular tools and grape-cell cultures in a bid to discover which flavonoids in grapes and red wine are key to cancer fighting. The study, by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, examined how constituents in grape-cell culture extracts work against an enzyme called human DNA topoisomerase II that is necessary for the spread of cancer. The study showed that plant chemicals from the proanthocyanidin and anthocyanin classes of the flavonoid family worked more effectively against the enzyme than the previously identified flavonoids quercetin and resveratrol, which have received much attention for their possible health effects. Importantly, individual components had less effect on the enzyme, supporting the use of whole grapes for health rather than components in the form of supplements.