The Green-Red Diet works like this.
You have a brassica family vegetable with dinner.
For dessert you have red berries or red wine.

The green vegetable has indole-3-carbinol, which induces [causes an increased amount and activity of] an enzyme called cytochrome P450.
The cytochrome p450 works on the resveratrol in the red dessert to create an anticancer substance from it.
More detail below:


1. <b>Indole-3-carbinol</b> 
is one of the major anticancer substances found in cruciferous (cabbage family) vegetables. It is found in highest concentrations in broccoli, but is also found in other cruciferous vegetables, such as cauliflower, cabbage, and kale. 

Indole-3-carbinol is a member of the class of sulfur-containing chemicals called glucosinolates. It is formed
from parent compounds whenever cruciferous vegetables are crushed or cooked.  Indole-3-carbinol and other glucosinolates (e.g., other indoles and isothiocyanates such as sulforaphane) are antioxidants and potent
stimulators of natural detoxifying enzymes in the body. Indole-3-carbinol and other glucosinolates are believed to be responsible for the lowered risk of cancer in humans that is associated with the consumption of broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage, and kale

Feeding indole-3-carbinol or broccoli extracts rich in indole-3-carbinol has dramatically reduced the frequency, size, and number of tumors in laboratory rats exposed to a carcinogen. It appears to be especially protective against breast and cervical cancer because of a number of actions, including an ability to increase the breakdown of estrogen. However, while most animal studies report protective effects, a few indicate that indole-3-carbinol may actually promote cancer formation in certain situations, depending upon the chemical initiator of cancer, method of exposure, and species of animal studied.

Until there is further research and more human clinical data to determine if indole-3-carbinol actually inhibits rather than stimulates cancer formation, some researchers have recommended proceeding with caution when using isolated indole-3-carbinol as a dietary supplement. The areas where its use has currently been documented in humans are only preliminary, but the results are promising. Indole-3-carbinol reduced or halted the formation of papillomas (precancerous lesions) in 12 out of 18 patients with recurrent respiratory tract papillomas. In addition, in a small double-blind trial, supplementation with 200 or 400 mg of indole-3-carbinol per day for 12 weeks reversed early-stage cervical cancer in 8 of 17 women. Preliminary studies have also shown indole-3-carbinol has significantly increased the conversion of estrogen from cancer-producing forms to nontoxic breakdown products.

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2. <b>Resveratrol</b>
is a naturally occurring polyphenolic phytochemical and can be found in many plant species, including red wine,  grapes, red berries, plums, and peanuts. Several studies have established that Resveratrol can exert anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory activities and has activity in the regulation of multiple cellular events associated with carcinogenesis. 
Resveratrol's anti-cancer effects include its role as a chemopreventive agent, its ability to inhibit cell proliferation, its direct effect in cytotoxicity by induction of apoptosis and on its potential therapeutic effect in pre-clinical studies.  Resveratrol also seems to sensitize cancer cells to cytotoxic drugs when it is used with those drugs in drug-resistant cancer cells.

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3. <b>Piceatannol</b> is a closely related compound to Resveratrol.  Piceatannol has antileukaemic activity and is also a tyrosine kinase inhibitor.  Piceatannol differs from resveratrol by having an additional aromatic hydroxy group. The enzyme CYP1B1 is overexpressed in a wide variety of human tumours and catalyses aromatic hydroxylation reactions. We report here that the cancer preventative agent resveratrol undergoes metabolism by the cytochrome P450 enzyme CYP1B1 to give a metabolite which has been identified as the known antileukaemic agent piceatannol.

This observation provides a novel explanation for the cancer preventative properties of resveratrol. It demonstrates that a natural dietary cancer preventative agent can be converted to a compound with known anticancer activity by an enzyme that is found in human tumours. Importantly this result gives insight into the functional role of CYP1B1 and provides evidence for the concept that CYP1B1 in tumours may be functioning as a growth suppressor enzyme.

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4. <b>The Green-Red Diet</b>
consists of having a cruciferous vegetable, like broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, or kale with dinner.  And then for dessert having red berries, red grapes or a glass of red wine.   A green cruciferous vegetable to be absorbed first, the indole-3-carbinol content of which will induce the Cytochrome p450 enzyme responsible for changing the Resveratrol in dessert into Piceatannol.  

Professor Potter of De Montfort University in the UK, has postulated that this combination of foods in the diet might have a controlling effect on cancer.  He is currently involved in developing trials for a more powerful resveratrol derivative that he has been working on.
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Resveratrol is classified as a polyphenol, but also as a phyto-oestrogen because of its structural similarity to the oestrogen estradiol. 

Piceatannol is a closely related phyto-estrogen with known anti-cancer activity and is a tyrosine kinase inhibitor. 

The enzyme CYP1B1 belongs to the cytochrome P450 enzyme family and is highly represented in human tumours. It has been found in a wide range of tumours including brain, breast, colon, lung and ovary, but was not detected in the corresponding normal tissues (Murray et al 1997). CYP1B1 is known to catalyse estradiol to 4-hydroxyestradiol. 

The group hypothesised that resveratrol might be converted by the enzyme CYP1B1 because of its similarity in structure to estradiol. 

The team are also looking into the beneficial effects of brassica family vegetables (e.g. broccoli, cabbage etc.) which contain a molecule that activates the CYP1B1 enzyme. 
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