Grape Seed Extract May Help Prevent Skin Cancer

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Extracts from grape seeds, rich in a substance called proanthocyanidin, grape seed extract has already been demonstrated to have anti-cancer effects on many tumor types. Studies showed that it could help prevent skin cancer by boosting the immune system.

Resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant found in grape skins and rape seed extract seem to protect against skin cancer. In one study, published in Cancer Prevention Research, scientists observed that this natural compound exhibited a protective effect on the body when administered both orally and topically in mice with skin cancer. Even in low doses, the plant agent exerted maximum therapeutic effects when combined with some other compounds such as calcium and ellagic acid, for each compound plays a specific and unique role in the process.

It appears that GSE may have other, much more significant effects on skin. Researchers from the University of Alabama, Birmingham exposed hairless mice to ultraviolet-light. Some of the mice they fed a standard diet supplemented with grape seed proanthocyanidins, or GSPs, while control mice were fed a standard diet without this supplement.

Mice ...
... supplemented with GSPs had up to 65 fewer tumors than control mice did. Moreover, the tumors seen in GSP-supplemented mice were up to 78 percent smaller than those seen in the control mice.

Their data show that grape seed proanthocyanidins have the ability to protect the skin from the adverse effects of UVB radiation via modulation of the MAPK and NF-kappaB signaling pathways and provide a molecular basis for the photoprotective effects of GSPs in an in vivo animal model.

Proanthocyanidins found in GSE may also play a role in improving skin problems related to wounds too, according to scientist and surgery professor Chandan Sen, a co-author of the 2002 article "Dermal Wound Healing Properties of Redox-Active Grape Seed Proanthocyanidins" in "Free Radical Biology & Medicine." Sen and his colleagues applied proanthocyanidins derived from GSE to puncture wounds on the skin of mice.

The results led the researchers to conclude that topical application of GSE-related proanthocyanidins enabled the wounds to not only heal faster, but also form denser and stronger new tissue at the site of the wound. Further research is necessary to support these findings, however.

As with all medications grape seed extract can have unwanted effects. The most common side effects were headache, itchy scalp, hives, nausea, and dizziness; the supplement may also interfere with the effectiveness of certain other prescribed drugs.

The grape seed extract is a top supplement. Get to know grape seed extract and grape seed extract suppliers so as to improve your health.