Antioxidant Supports Colon Health

By CP Staff

A potent antioxidant reduces inflammation associated with colitis in the colon, researchers report in a new study. Inflammatory bowel diseases, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn\'s disease, are a group of disorders in which the colon or small intestine becomes inflamed and may result in abdominal pain, diarrhea, weight loss and bleeding. The American Academy of Family Physicians report that more than 600,000 Americans have some kind of inflammatory bowel disease.

A recent study evaluated the effect of trans-resveratrol supplementation on experimentally induced colitis in mice. Resveratrol is an antioxidant found in high concentration in the skin of red grapes and red wine and has anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating activity. In this study, mice were fed with a standard diet or the standard diet plus resveratrol for 30 days. Acute colitis was induced in the mice with dextran sulphate sodium (DSS) for 5 days. The mice were then fed water for 21 days resulting in severe chronic colon inflammation.

The results of the study showed that the group of mice that received resveratrol supplementation had decreased symptoms of colitis compared to the mice fed the standard diet alone, including loss of body weight, diarrhea and rectal bleeding. In addition, all of the mice receiving the resveratrol survived the study, compared to 40 percent mortality in the mice receiving only the standard diet.

The resveratrol group also showed a reduction in the pro-inflammatory cellular mediators (cytokines) tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-1beta and an increase of the anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10. Furthermore, the mice receiving resveratrol supplementation demonstrated a reduction in pro-inflammatory enzymes due to a decrease in the P38 mitogen-activated protein kinases, which are enzymes in a signaling pathway that responds to cellular stress.

The study authors stated, “We conclude that resveratrol…represents a novel approach to the treatment of chronic intestinal inflammation.

Reference:

Sánchez-Fidalgo S, Cárdeno A, Villegas I, Talero E, de la Lastra CA. Dietary supplementation of resveratrol attenuates chronic colonic inflammation in mice. Eur J Pharmacol. 2010 May 10;633(1-3):78-84.