Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

Recently this author has underscored the importance of sugar restriction in the control of cancer. [KnowledgeofHealth.com] Newly published science provides further insight into the importance of low-carbohydrate (bread, rice, pasta) and low-sugar diets to improve cancer survival. A new finding is how a restricted sugar/carbohydrate diet enables anti-cancer molecules such as resveratrol to exert their anti-cancer properties.

Investigators wondered if a low-carbohydrate diet combined with molecules that genetically mimic a limited calorie diet would improve cancer survival rates.

The researchers combined four polyphenols, resveratrol (known as a red wine molecule), quercetin (from red apple peel), curcumin (from turmeric spice) and EGCG (green tea extract), and provided them to laboratory animals that were placed on a low-carbohydrate diet. The results were startling.

Supplementation of these four herbal extracts did not increase survival in rodents who had been injected with cancer (melanoma) cells.

A low-carbohydrate or modest carbohydrate diet also did not improve survival. However, the low-carbohydrate diet combined with the four herbal extracts improved survival time from 23 to 28 days (~20% greater survival).

The low-carbohydrate diet + herbal extracts suppressed IGF-1 (insulin growth factor-1) and TOR (target of rapamycin) genes and activated AMPK and Sirtuin-1 survival genes. The widely acclaimed Sirtuin-1 survival gene suppressed tumor growth and prolonged survival only in a low-glucose (low sugar) condition.

A modestly reduced calorie diet also did not prolong survival, which suggests a tightly regulated diet is required. Another finding is that a combination of herbal extracts produces more powerful effects at lower doses.

Development of liver tumors and survival in laboratory animals on three different diets

In another part of the experiment laboratory animals were placed a normal calorie diet (group 1), a lowered-calorie diet (group 2) and a lower calorie diet + herbal extracts (group 3, as shown above). [European Journal Cancer Prevention March 19, 2015]