Resveratrol May Help Prevent Liver Cancer

Statistically the 3rd most common cause of death worldwide, liver cancer is also the 5th most common type of cancer. Chronic liver disease from viral infection, alcohol abuse, toxic substances, and dysfunctional metabolism are typically the underlying condition that leads to the most common type of liver cancer—hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Although surgery to remove the cancer and liver transplant can cure HCC, it is only suitable for relatively few patients. Other treatments are either complicated (e.g., radiation) or expensive and risky while improving survival by only a few months (e.g., the drug sorafenib).²¹⁹

Resveratrol may be a good alternative option to help prevent inflammation and precancerous lesions in the liver (due to chronic conditions) from progressing to HCC. Animal studies show that resveratrol was able to suppress the growth of HCC caused by a carcinogen in the study rats, reduce levels of inflammatory factors and free radicals that contribute to cancer development, and even get rid of the abnormal precancerous liver cells induced by the carcinogen. Resveratrol also appears to inhibit higher levels of growth factors (caused by inflammatory proteins and carcinogens) that in turn stimulate the formation of new blood vessels—a process called angiogenesis. Angiogenesis is necessary for cancer cells to develop, grow, and spread. By blocking angiogenesis resveratrol can prevent precancerous conditions and lesions from developing into full-blown malignancy.²¹⁹