Lee Swanson Research Update

Grapseed Extract Shows Promise as Powerful Colon Cancer Fighter

February 2007

Once again science has shed more light on the free-radical-fighting power of grapeseed extract. Researchers in Colorado demonstrated recently that grapeseed extract significantly inhibited the growth of colorectal tumors in both laboratory cell cultures and in mice.

Stating their reasons for conducting the study, researchers said, "Accumulating evidences suggest the beneficial effects of fruit and vegetable consumption in lowering the risk of various cancers, including colorectal cancer. Herein, we investigated the in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects and associated mechanisms of grapeseed extract (GSE), a rich source of proanthocyanidins, against colon cancer."

The team from the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center in Denver said that mice given the extract displayed a 44% reduction in the size of advanced colorectal tumors. They also determined how grapeseed extract works to inhibit cancer growth. It does so by increasing the availability of a protein (Cip1/p21) in tumors that "freezes" the cell cycle, causing cancer cells to self-destruct.

"The value of this preclinical study," according to Rajesh Agarwal, a professor in the department of pharmaceutical sciences, "is that it shows grapeseed extract can attack cancer, and how it works, but much more investigation will be needed before these chemicals can be tested as a human cancer treatment and preventive."

Agarwal and his colleagues had previously demonstrated the cancer-fighting effects of grapeseed extract in other types of tumors. Grape skin and seeds are a rich source of antioxidant flavonoids called proanthocyanidins.

Clinical Cancer Research 12:6194-6202, 2006

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