London, Oct 2 (IANS) A compound found in red wine and grape skin, known to stave off heart attacks, also halts breast cancer in its tracks.
Lab tests have shown that resveratrol blocks the growth of the hormone oestrogen and aborts the growth of breast cancer.
Study leader Sebastiano Ando, from the University of Calabria in Italy, said: ‘Resveratrol is a potential pharmacological tool to be exploited when breast cancer become resistant to the hormonal therapy.’
Resveratrol is also found in blueberries, peanuts and cranberries. It works by blocking the way oestrogen combines with DNA in a woman’s body to spread tumour cells, according to the Daily Mail.
Ando and colleagues found that they could cut the growth of breast cancer cells dramatically with resveratrol, while it left normal cells unharmed.
Additional experiments revealed the effect was related to a drastic reduction of oestrogen receptor levels caused by resveratrol itself.
