Colorectal cancer or colon cancer is one of the most common cancers in both men and women. It is the third most frequent type of cancer. It alone leads to 9 percent of all deaths due to any kind of cancer. Many of the patients don’t even have a history of this cancer in their families.
But did you know that colon cancer is preventable to some extent? Colon cancer can be a result of our sedentary way of living and not sticking to healthy food choices. A few simple changes in your daily lifestyle and diet can help you to prevent this type of cancer. One of such ways can be incorporating grape seed extract into your diet. It’s as simple as that. Today, many experts suggest grape seed extract for colon cancer prevention.
Why Grape seed extract for colon cancer?
We have long known that bioactive compounds in grape seed extracts selectively target many types of cancer cells. The medicinal use of plants and other natural extracts can be traced back for centuries in different cultures. It is only recently that technology has made it possible to explore the link between plants and a particular disease.
Grape seed extract is derived from the oil from the ground grapes of red wine. The extract contains a substance called proanthocyanidins, which have antioxidant properties. There’s evidence to the beneficial effects of fruit and vegetable consumption in reducing the risk of various types of cancer.
Colon cancer or colorectal cancer(CRC) is a diverse disease with an outstanding ability to develop resistance to chemotherapy. One of the main mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance in CRC cells in the development of insensitivity to induction of apoptosis.
Grape seed procyanidins (GSP) are dietary supplements with known disease-preventing properties. GSP has both chemopreventive and antiproliferative effects on breast, prostate, skin and colorectal cancer, demonstrating its potential for cancer treatment.
Grape seed extract and Colorectal carcinoma cells
Various researchers investigated the mechanisms associated with the in vitro and in vivo anticancer effects of grape seed extract (GSE), a rich source of proanthocyanidins for colon cancer. “In vitro” test to examine interactions under a microscope using laboratory samples. An “in vivo” test that examines the interactions of living subjects
In their study, researchers first tested different doses of grape seed extract on human colon cancer cells in vitro. Cancer cells treated with grape seed extract were more likely to disrupt the normal growth cycle and die than those not treated with the extract. The cancer cells that received the highest dose of grape seed extract for the longest time were most likely to stop their growth cycle.
Researchers found that these results were promising. So, researchers took the experiment to another level. They injected a human colon cancer tumor under the skin of the mouse and then inserted the grape seed extract into the mouth of the mouse through a tube.
The tumors grew more slowly in these mice compared to the tumors in the mice that did not receive the grape seed extract. Mice-fed grape seed extract did not gain weight, change diet, or show any other side effects during the 8-week study.
GSE reasons a substantial dose- and time-established inhibition of molecular increase with concomitant growth in molecular death. It can be a powerful chemopreventive agent for colorectal cancer, and that increases inhibitory and apoptotic results of GSE towards colorectal cancer.
GSE- a promising agent for CRC
Colorectal cancer cells can have more than 11,000 genetic mutations. This is different from the DNA of healthy cells. Traditional chemotherapy treatments may target only specific mutations, and more mutations appear as cancer progresses. These changes can lead to chemotherapy-resistant cancers. In contrast, many bioactive compounds in GSE can target multiple mutations. The more mutations cancer has, the more effectively GSE can attack them.
The anti-cancer effect of whole black grape extract (including seeds) has been reported in cancerous human colon tissue through the inhibition of DNA turnover enzymes. As colon cancer cells progress, grape seed extracts stop their growth and survival. It turns out that much more chemotherapy is needed to kill stage IV cancer than stage II, but the opposite is true for grape seed extract. Grape seed extract not only effectively targets cancer cells, but also leaves the healthy cells unscathed. This is the wonder of GSE’s preferential killing of the advanced colorectal cancer cells.
Another laboratory study suggested that oral ingestion of grape seeds significantly reduced inflammation and tissue damage caused by chemotherapy in the small intestine and had no detrimental effects on non-cancerous cells. It claims that these results may be both chemopreventive, which means that GSE prevents the development of cancer, and antitumor substances, which means that tumor growth can be counteracted.
Summing up
While chemotherapeutic agents have broad effects in the treatment of cancer, their low toxicity, cost-effectiveness, and other proven health benefits of plant-based products like GSEs give people who fight cancer the best chances of survival. Thus presenting them as a promising adjunct. GSE can be a new era way of fighting cancer and delivering a better quality of life without the use of harsh and toxic chemicals. In a way reducing the side effects and pain of chemotherapy one has to go through while receiving the treatment. A concoction of natural products along with the allopathic approach can be an educated choice for a better solution for the patients.
