What the Research Says: Alkylresorcinols and Apoptosis
In short: apoptosis is the body's controlled process for removing damaged or unneeded cells. Several laboratory studies have exposed cultured cells to alkylresorcinols extracted from wholegrain rye and observed effects on apoptotic pathways. Those studies were conducted in cell cultures, not in people eating rye bran, and they do not establish what happens in the human body. This article summarises what the researchers did, what they reported, and where the evidence stops.
What is apoptosis?
Apoptosis is programmed cell death: a tightly regulated process in which cells that are damaged, faulty, or no longer needed dismantle themselves in an orderly way. It is a normal part of how the body maintains tissue.
Researchers describe it as a quality-control mechanism. Elmore (2007), in a review in Toxicologic Pathology, sets out the pathways involved, and Favaloro et al. (2012), writing in Aging, review how apoptosis is regulated and what researchers have observed when that regulation is disturbed. Both are reviews of the biology itself. Neither concerns rye.
What are alkylresorcinols?
Alkylresorcinols are naturally occurring plant compounds (phenolic lipids) concentrated in the outer bran layer of rye and wheat. Broekaert et al. (2011), reviewing cereal arabinoxylans in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, describe the compounds found in cereal bran and the research interest in them. Rye bran is the richest common cereal source of alkylresorcinols. Read our full explainer on what alkylresorcinols are →
What the laboratory studies observed
Two studies are most often cited in this area. It matters what was actually done in each.
Landberg et al. (2010), Nutrition and Cancer. The researchers exposed cultured prostate cancer cells to alkylresorcinols derived from rye bran and reported that the compounds induced apoptosis in those cell lines. This was an in-vitro study: cells in a dish, exposed directly to isolated compounds at concentrations the researchers selected.
Fu et al. (2018). Working with human colon cancer cell lines, the authors reported that wholegrain alkylresorcinols induced apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest, and proposed a mechanism involving the p53 pathway. Again: cultured cells, isolated compounds, laboratory conditions.
The proposed mechanism in both cases involves the BCL-2 family of proteins, which Green and Llambi (2015) describe in Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology as governing whether a cell proceeds to apoptosis. The hypothesis the authors put forward is that alkylresorcinols shift the balance of these proteins in the cells studied.
What these studies do not show
This is the part worth being clear about, because it is where most writing on this topic overreaches.
- Cell cultures are not people. A compound applied directly to cells in a dish has not been eaten, digested, absorbed, or metabolised. Many compounds that act on cultured cells do nothing comparable in the body.
- The concentrations are chosen by the researcher. They are not necessarily concentrations achievable through diet.
- These studies used extracted compounds, not rye bran, and not Ryedical. No study has tested our product.
- None of this tells you what eating rye bran does for your health. It tells you what interested the researchers enough to investigate further.
What the research supports is a reasonable statement: alkylresorcinols are an active area of study, and the laboratory findings are why researchers keep looking. That is the honest summary, and it is the one we stand behind.
Where Ryedical sits
Ryedical is 100% cold-processed rye bran: a wholefood high in dietary fibre, and the richest common food source of the compounds described above. We sell it as food, because that is what it is. One tablespoon (13g) adds about 5g of dietary fibre to your day, and dietary fibre supports healthy digestive system function as part of a balanced diet.†
We make no health claims beyond that, and nothing on this page should be read as one. Rye bran contains gluten and is not suitable for people with coeliac disease or non-coeliac gluten sensitivity.
Related reading
- Alkylresorcinols explained: what they are and why rye bran has the most
- Digestion resistance: how the compounds are released
- What the research says about alkylresorcinols and mitochondria
†As part of a balanced diet.
This article is an educational summary of published research, written by Kevin, founder of Ryedical, from the literature he has read. It is not medical or nutritional advice, and it is not a health claim made by Ryedical about its product. Speak with your healthcare professional about your own health and diet.
References
[1] Elmore, S. (2007). Apoptosis: A review of programmed cell death. Toxicologic Pathology, 35(4), 495–516. PubMed
[2] Favaloro, B., et al. (2012). Role of apoptosis in disease. Aging, 4(5), 330–349. PubMed
[3] Broekaert, W. F., et al. (2011). Prebiotic and other health-related effects of cereal-derived arabinoxylans. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, 51(2), 178–194. PubMed
[4] Green, D. R., & Llambi, F. (2015). Cell death signaling. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology, 7(12), a006080. PubMed
[5] Landberg, R., et al. (2010). Rye bran alkylresorcinols induce apoptosis in prostate cancer cells. Nutrition and Cancer, 62(7), 994–1002. PubMed
[6] Fu, et al. (2018). Induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in human colon cancer cells by whole grain alkylresorcinols.