Chocolate consumption, fecal water antioxidant activity, and hydroxyl radical production.

As part of a larger study into the effects of polyphenols derived from chocolate on bowel health we have compared the effects of consumption of chocolate containing either 200 mg of flavanols and related procyanidins or a similar chocolate containing less than 10 mg of polyphenols on fecal free radical production and antioxidant activity in 18 volunteers. In a double-blind crossover trail volunteers consumed chocolate for two 4-wk periods separated by a 4-wk washout period. During the time the volunteers consumed the chocolate they also consumed a low-polyphenol diet.

Antitumor activity of extract of Zingiber aromaticum and its bioactive sesquiterpenoid zerumbone.

The anticancer properties of zerumbone (2,6,9 humulatriene-8-one, a sesquiterpenoid) from Zingiber aromaticum were compared with those of curcumin from Curcuma longa in an in vitro MTT tetrazolium salt assay using HT-29, CaCo-2, and MCF-7 cancer cells and in an azoxymethane (AOM)-induced animal model of colon cancer using aberrant crypt foci (ACFs) as a preneoplastic marker. The IC50 of zerumbone was approximately 10 mM and that of curcumin was 25 mM. Cell cycle arrest in HT-29 cells was observed at G0/G1 for 10 and 12.