Scientists at the University of Barcelona and the Spanish National Research Council may have given consumers new reasons to drink wine. The researchers recently discovered that a compound found in grapes and wine can help protect skin cells from damaging ultraviolet radiation.
“The key behind the study is compounds called flavonoids. They work at the molecular level to stop the chemical reaction that kills skin cells, protecting them against UV rays,” says Tampa dermatologist Dr. Seth Forman. “Since UV radiation from the sun is the leading cause of skin cancer, these findings can affect millions.”
The study, first reported by the UK’s Daily Mail and published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry generalized, “Grapes could protect against skin cancer and prevent premature ageing.”
Other variations of flavonoids have also been found to have similar health benefits, the Tampa dermatologist explained. An additional study in 2008 by UCLA cancer researchers found that eating certain flavonoids helped protect smokers from developing lung cancer.
Director of the University of Barcelona project, Marta Cascante said, “This study supports the idea of using these products to protect the skin from cell damage and death caused by solar radiation, as well as increasing our understanding of the mechanism by which they act.”
Forman explains further, “The effects of these results could have far reaching effects, for many aspects of medicine. These flavonoids could possibly lead to new drug developments to prevent cancer for at-risk individuals.”
The full University of Barcelona study can be found here.
About Dr. Seth Forman: Dr. Forman has two Tampa dermatology offices; one in Carrollwood and the other in Downtown Tampa. He opened the Tampa Psoriasis Center in his Carrollwood office in 2010. The center gives psoriasis sufferers access to the latest treatment options, including topical and oral medications, as well as biological and phototherapy. Dr. Forman is one of the few Tampa dermatologists to offer narrowband light therapy, which uses pharmaceutical grade light to suppress psoriasis.
For more on Dr. Seth Forman or Tampa dermatology, please visit www.formanderm.com.
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RELATED LINKS
www.formanderm.com
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf103692a
SOURCE: Forman Dermatology
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Now I have a good excuse to drink wine!