Should I take Resveratrol?

What are the best nutritional supplements? I take a wide variety of nutritional supplements and vitamins that complement my workout regime and diet. For the most part, I take nutritional supplements to promote my overall health and to support my immune system. Being a cancer survivor, I am keenly aware of the negative long-term effects of chemotherapy – sometimes I feel like a walking Petri dish.

 If I had a premonition that I was going to be stranded on a deserted island, and if I could only pack a few different nutritional supplements, what would I take? The first supplement that I’d take would be a multi-vitamin with, at least, vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and zinc – this would round out my diet. Being on a deserted island I certainly hope that I could catch some fish, but just in case I don’t, the second supplement that I’d pack is Omega-3 fish oil. Omega-3 provides health fatty acids that promote healthy heart, skin, hair and nails. My third nutritional supplement choice would be resveratrol because it may hold the key to living a longer, more vibrant, disease-free life

 I’ll talk about multivitamins and Omega-3 in separate articles because I want to thoroughly discuss resveratrol at this time.

 What is resveratrol? Resveratrol is a compound that is often associated with the health benefits of red wine. Resveratrol, which contains powerful antioxidant and cardioprotectant properties, is found in many foods such as blueberries, peanuts, and red wine. Resveratrol is not new, scientists have been studying its effects for many years. Resveratrol has long been suspected to have cardioprotective effects, it has been reported to have anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties, and is being studied for a variety of pharmaceutical uses.

Findings from published scientific literature indicate that resveratrol may be, by far, the most effective plant extract for maintaining optimal health.

What diseases / health issues does resveratrol help avoid? Today scientists are diligently researching resveratrol’s effectiveness in treating many illnesses such as heart disease, arthritis, diabetes, the negative effects of obesity and cancer.

Scientists are finding that resveratrol may increase insulin sensitivity, decrease blood sugar levels, and may promote healthier heart and liver tissues, which, in turn, may stave off human age-related diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and cancer.

Heart Disease – Resveratrol promotes cardiovascular health through its antioxidant action and through its ability to promote healthy platelet function and resveratrol helps maintain healthy arachidonic acid metabolism.

Cancer – Resveratrol protects DNA from free radical damage and can play an important role in protecting cells from malignant transformation.

A new study shows that resveratrol destroys cancer cells from the inside and enhances the effectiveness of radiation and chemotherapy cancer treatments. Researchers say that resveratrol appears to work by targeting the cancer cell’s energy source from within and crippling it. When combined with radiation, treatment with resveratrol prior to radiation also induced cell death which is obviously an important goal of cancer treatment.
The results of a study published in Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology showed that resveratrol can make cancer cells more sensitive to chemotherapy, can injure cancer cell’s energy source and ultimately can trigger the death of cancer cells.

Diabetes – Insulin is a hormone that controls blood sugar. Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body becomes less sensitive to insulin – known as insulin resistance.

Chinese scientists Cheng Sun and Qiwei Zhai of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai have found that resveratrol may counter type 2 diabetes.

According to Sun and Zhai, it might be possible to create new resveratrol drugs that could help treat insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Obesity – Resveratrol can counter the negative effects of obesity. Resveratrol appears to work as a powerful antioxidant which helps quench free radical damage in the body. Resveratrol also has a unique mechanism of action that may prove to have significant life extending properties.

Resveratrol may help defend against a fatty diet and help obese people live longer, healthier lives. A new study shows that the negative effects of the high calorie diet may be prevented when supplemented with resveratrol.

Researchers found that mice fed the resveratrol diet lived longer and had a higher quality of life than the other fatty-diet mice.

Although the mice in the study treated with resveratrol didn’t lose weight, they appeared to be protected from some of the unhealthy effects of their obesity.

Where Can I get resveratrol? I buy my Resveratrol from Life Extension Foundation (LEF). I frequently visit the LEF site to get up-to-date supplement news and research information. LEF has been around for almost thirty years, their knowledge and experience is unparalleled. I really believe LEF when they talk about the quality and the purity of their products… hence I’ve been one of their customers for more than ten years.

How much resveratrol should I take? Researchers have determined that an effective daily dose of resveratrol ranges from 20 to 250 mg a day. The resveratrol potency you choose may be based on your current state of health and/or your desire to reach the upper limits of a healthy human life span.

Why not just drink red wine? I like the idea of having a case or two of Zinfandel or Cabernet on my deserted island but only 1 to 3 mg of resveratrol is typically found in a bottle of red wine. If you were to obtain the benefits of resveratrol via the consumption of red wine… you would need to drink almost a hundred bottles of wine a day.  I don’t know about you but I’m quite confident that I’d be a bit hung over, to put it mildly, if I drank that much wine.

Sources:

Baur, J. Nature, Nov. 1, 2006, advance online edition. News release, Harvard Medical School. Kaeberlein, M. and Rabinovitch, P. Nature, Nov. 1, 2006, advance online edition. News release, Cell Press. National Cancer Institute Fact Sheet: “Red Wine and Cancer Prevention.” Sun, W. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology, March 2008. News release, University of Rochester Medical Center. Sun, C. Cell Metabolism, October 2007; vol 6: pp 307-319. Zabolotny, J. Cell Metabolism, October 2007; vol 6: pp 247-249.