Cancer scientists toast grape treatment

Grape seed extract could reduce the damage caused by chemotherapy for bowel cancer, according to a new study.

Grape seed can be combined with chemotherapy to improve treatment for bowel cancer, a study shows. (AAP)

Grape seed can be combined with chemotherapy to improve treatment for bowel cancer, according to Australian scientists.

They say the wine-making by-product reduces intestinal damage caused by chemotherapy and enhances its effect.

It reduces inflammation and tissue damage caused by chemotherapy in the small intestine, says Dr Amy Cheah, lead author of an article about the study published in the journal PLOS ONE.

"Unlike chemotherapy, grape seed appears to selectively act on cancer cells and leave healthy cells almost unaffected," said the University of Adelaide researcher.

Commercially available grape seed extract was used in the study which involved laboratory tests on cell cultures.

Co-author and project leader Professor Gordon Howarth said: "Grape seed is showing great potential as an anti-inflammatory treatment for a range of bowel diseases and now as a possible anti-cancer treatment."