One of the most common cancers among men is prostate cancer. In fact, prostate cancer might be the most common form of cancer in men, but no one is quite sure. The reason for that is often, prostate cancer can be in a man’s body, but go undetected (the man may even die of other causes, having lived with prostate cancer for years without knowing it).
After reading that, you might be tempted to think prostate cancer is a big deal. Well, in some cases it certainly can be. Like all cancers, cancer of the prostate has the ability to metastasize, or move into other parts of the body. In organs and bones it can cause serious damage. That’s why it’s good to know that resveratrol can fight prostate cancer in several ways.
About Prostate Cancer
Prostate cancer occurs when the prostate cells which produce semen undergo mutations which turn them cancerous. These mutations can be caused by excess hormones, particularly estrogen. Estrogen is most often associated with women, but is found in men as well.
When these growths begin to occur, several changes can happen in the body. There are hormones which are supposed to stop the accumulation of the materials which cause the tumors, but these are depressed as the cancer cells begin to interfere with regular body operations. Hormones which actually help cancer cells grow, such as prostate-specific antigen (PSA) also begin production in large amounts.
The Resveratrol Difference
Studies have shown that resveratrol acts as both a chemopreventive agent and as a treatment in people who already have cancer. The big bonus with resveratrol in comparison to other treatments is that it does not cause the harmful side effects associated with those traditional treatments.
To treat and prevent cancer, resveratrol will block the production of those hormones we mentioned, such as PSA. Without these chemicals to increase their size, the cancer cells often die.
Resveratrol also works against cancer cells using their own DNA against them. Doses of the compound have been shown to interfere with the genes in cancer cells that allow them to communicate. That means they have a harder time metastasizing as well as gaining nutrition.
Finally, resveratrol has been shown to increase the effectiveness of other treatments when taken in conjunction with those treatments. They complement other compounds by targeting cancerous cells at different stages of their development.
Over all, resveratrol has given researchers reason to think very positively as far as finding a natural source chemopreventive agent which can also treat patients in any stage of cancer, without causing harmful side effects.
