Grape Seed Extract (GSE) makes otherwise immortal laboratory leukemia cells commit suicide, according to a new study from the University of Kentucky. When exposed to the extract, 76 percent of the leukemia cells were dead within 24 hours. The extract forces leukemia cells to commit “apoptosis,” or cell suicide, which is a kind of programmed cell death that cells in the body undergo either in the normal course of growth and development or when something goes wrong with them.

Popular bisphosphonate drugs used to treat the bone thinning condition that increases the likelihood of a bone fracture (osteoporosis) may increase the risk of developing dangerous esophageal cancer, a Food and Drug Administration official said on Wednesday. Diane Wysowski of the FDA's division of drug risk assessment said researchers should check into potential links between so called bisphosphonate drugs and cancer. In a letter in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine, Wysowski said since the initial marketing of Fosamax (alendronate) in 1995, the FDA has received 23 reports in which patients developed esophageal tumors.

Researchers from the University of Southern California have published the results from the B-Vitamin Atherosclerosis Intervention Trial (BVAIT). A high dose B-Complex supplement slows down the progression of hardening of the arteries in patients with elevated homocysteine. Homocysteine is a by product of incomplete protein metabolism that harms blood vessel walls contributing to heart disease and a number of B-complex vitamins regulate its concentration.

Researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, and at the University of Washington, Seattle, examined any connection between high Folic Acid supplementation and breast cancer risk. They also examined any connection with methionine, riboflavin, and vitamins B-6 and B-12 from self-reported intakes averaged over 10 years before the start of the study. 35,023 postmenopausal women aged 50 to 76 years in the Vitamins And Lifestyle (VITAL) cohort study took part in the analysis.

Supplements containing selenium, beta-carotene and Vitamins C and E may alleviate pain in people suffering from pancreatitis according to a new study. In 127 patients with painful pancreatitis it was found that supplementing them with 600 mcg of selenium, 540 mg  vitamin C, 9,000 IU Beta-Carotene, 270 IU vitamin E (as d-alpha- tocopherol) and 2 g methionine reduced the number of days with pain significantly each month during the six-month long study period. They also found that 32% of the patients on supplements became pain free (vs.