Resveratrol News and Studies

Resveratrol is one of the most talked about chemical compounds of the last decade. Acting as a natural antibiotic in plant life, resveratrol has been theorized to have similar health benefits in animals and even humans. One of the most popularly talked about resveratrol sources is red wine.

In fact, red wine and resveratrol have gained widespread attention in the media for extending life span, fighting aging, and even thwarting cancers and heart disease. More recently, resveratrol has been cited for being a significant aid in weight loss.

Studies and new research is being reported and conducted often to test these claims and hopefully find a chemical compound that can be scientifically proven that has all of these wonderful, life enhancing properties.

Resveratrol Sources: Making the Most of Your Diet

Although since CBS’s 60 Minutes anchor Morley Safer aired their special about resveratrol, “Fountain of Youth in a Wine Rx?” many people who have been searching for potent sources of resveratrol think that red wine is the best source, it’s not true.

Yes, red wine is an excellent source of resveratrol and other antioxidants but are there more abundant sources for resveratrol? And what about the person who doesn’t drink alcohol but wants resveratrol in their diets too?

Resveratrol can be found in a variety of different forms of plant life. The most abundant source for resveratrol may be quite a surprise to you. Peanuts are higher in resveratrol than red wine and many other resveratrol sources.

Peanuts are often thought to be unhealthy and high in fat but recent research has shown that people who consume peanuts on a regular basis are actually leaner in general.

Resveratrol is best absorbed through the mouth so many think that drinking red wine is the best way to actually gain the most benefits from the resveratrol. When many people drink red wines they do so slowly. Smelling, sipping, and holding it in their mouths for a few moments. This is when the resveratrol will be able to be best absorbed.  And with peanuts also being a rich source, consider munching on peanuts with your red wine for a double shot of resveratrol.

Other resveratrol sources include Japanese knotweed and many berries.

Berries as Resveratrol Sources:

• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Mulberries

Each of these berries is an excellent source of resveratrol and other important nutrients.

If you want to up your intake of resveratrol, consider drinking a good red wine with dinner, adding berries to your breakfast cereal, your yogurt or salad. And of course, select peanuts for an ‘on the go’ snack. They’re easy to eat on the run, rich in good fats, and full of vital resveratrol.

Discover Resveratrol’s Role in Plant Life

If you watch or listen to any type of news media you can’t help but have noticed a recent focus on resveratrol. Resveratrol, commonly associated with red wine and grapes, is a chemical compound that is found naturally in plants has come into wide attention in the West over the past decade or so.

Although resveratrol is a relative newcomer to the Western health scene it’s been being used in China and other Eastern countries widely since the 1980’s to aid in health issues.

Resveratrol is found in red wine, the skin of grapes used to produce wine, as well as many types of berries. From raspberries to mulberries resveratrol can even be found in peanuts and many other berries.

For human health, resveratrol is claimed by many as well as indicated by animal research to offer significant health benefits. These benefits include fighting aging and cancers through its antioxidant content that combats free radical damage. Free radical damage or oxidation is a known cause of not only aging, but numerous lifestyle diseases like cancer and heart disease.

Heart disease is another health issue that many claim resveratrol can play a significant role in fighting. In animal studies resveratrol has been shown to lower bad cholesterol (LDL) and increase good cholesterol levels (HDL.) Both contributing factors to heart disease.

You may know what resveratrol does for the human body but do you know what role it plays in its source, plant life? Plants rely on resveratrol for survival too. In fact, the role resveratrol plays in plants is similar to what researchers are finding it contributes to human life as well.

Resveratrol in Plant Life

Resveratrol is a chemical compound found abundantly in certain plants. It is called a phytoalexin. These phytoalexin are antimicrobial substances found to occur naturally in plants as a response to an invasive pathogen particularly fungi. In short, phytoalexin are a plants own, innate antibiotics that are released in abundance and found in concentrated areas where fungal invasive infections are found in the plant itself.

The theory of phytoalexins and their role in plant life first came to light in 1940 and later identified in cabbage. Since then they have been found in other cruciferous plant life.

Resveratrol is one of the most important defenses a plant has against disease. It has an intricate system of defense against these invaders and resveratrol is one of the most vital.

Researchers, scientists, and doctors are now trying to determine if this potent chemical compound can help the human body to fight invasive diseases in the same way it helps a plant to survive. Stay tuned!

Searching for the Fountain of Youth

There’s just no denying it, our society is virtually obsessed with finding the fountain of youth – or at the very least looking young. Fighting aging has been a desire of many for thousands of years but today we have technology to help us on this road.

When it comes to looking young there are medical treatments like plastic surgery that many choose. Still others stick to the most natural methods available such as eating healthy, exercising, and keeping their stress levels low.

Healthy eating is key not just in how young you look but to how young you feel. Providing the body with all the vitamins and nutrients it needs allows you to live in a body that moves freely and feels good well into your twilight years. The powerful compound resveratrol could play in important role in this.

 What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol gained media attention over the past decade for its role in heart health. As more studies on resveratrol were revealed it became touted as the new anti-aging cure. What’s all the hype about?

Resveratrol is mainly associated with red wine. There were many who read the articles on resveratrol hoping this would be their reason to indulge in a glass or two every night. (And that’s not such a bad idea.)

Although it is found in red wine, resveratrol is also found in other foods as well.

Resveratrol Found In:

• Red wine
• Skins of grapes
• Blueberries
• Raspberries
• Mulberries
• Peanuts
• Japanese Knotweed

Resveratrol is a chemical compound found naturally in these plants. It is a polyphenol, particularly a flavonoid found abundantly in red wine.

Resveratrol and Anti-Aging

The role that resveratrol plays in anti-aging has mostly to do with its antioxidants and how they impact the body. Antioxidants have been shown to combat free radical damage or oxidation.

When it comes to free radical damage, it’s not just about anti-aging it can have a negative impact on all aspects of your health. From cancers to wrinkles free radical damage can leave you looking and feeling even older than you are.

Free radicals attack the cells of the body. They damage or impair these normal cells making them more susceptible to cancers and other lifestyle diseases.

Increasing your intake of fruits and vegetables is crucial for getting more antioxidants into your body and fighting aging. Antioxidants can be found in many foods but it’s the resveratrol in the red wine, grapes, berries, and peanuts that are particularly interesting researchers searching for an anti-aging remedy.

Although scientific research is scattered and varied, adding antioxidants to your diet will be beneficial no matter what.

The typical Western diet is loaded with foods that are unhealthy for the body, particularly the heart. With heart disease as a leading health problem in the West, many are searching for a way to strengthen their heart. Over the past decade, resveratrol for heart health has come into the news.

Resveratrol is a powerful chemical compound most associated with red wine and the skin of grapes used to make red wines. Resveratrol has been recently studied for its impact on heart health. This antioxidant has been found to play an important role in maintaining heart health in studies on animals such as rats and mice.

 Studies Reveal Resveratrol Improves Heart Health

 In a study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, it was indicated that resveratrol has a positive impact on the heart in more than just one way.

 The report detailed thirteen studies on resveratrol and its impact on animals. The authors summarized and concluded that resveratrol is vital to heart health in three main ways.

3 Ways Resveratrol May Help the Heart

1. Lowering levels of bad cholesterol
2. Antioxidant action on free radicals
3. Helping to fight inflammation in the body

 While different studies show varied results, a number of studies showed that resveratrol lowered bad cholesterol (LDL) and raised levels of good cholesterol (HDL.) Having high levels of the bad cholesterol (LDL) can increase plague in the arteries which in turn leads to heart attacks or strokes.

The antioxidant action of resveratrol impacts all areas of the body. Antioxidants act by blocking damaging free radicals from compromising and damaging the vital cells of the body. Antioxidants have been shown to help in the fight against not just heart disease but cancers and aging as well.

Finally, resveratrol was shown in the review of these studies to fight inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation in the body is associated with not just heart disease but other chronic lifestyle diseases too. With the heart, inflammation contributes to the build up of plague which can lead to heart attack or stroke.

How to Get Resveratrol for Heart Health in Your Diet

If you want to protect your heart health and resist damage from free radicals that impacts all aspects of your health consider drinking a glass of red wine with dinner, adding fruits that are high in resveratrol (such as blueberries, mulberries, raspberries, and peanuts,) or taking a resveratrol supplement.

Most of the studies on resveratrol have been on animals and little information is available on the impact resveratrol has on heart health in humans. Researchers caution that more information is needed for the benefits of resveratrol to be conclusive in humans.

It’s no secret that the beautiful people of France enjoy not only their rich, delicious foods (often times late into the evening) but also take love to indulge in their award winning red wines. It’s also well known that the French have much lower rates of heart disease and obesity than the United States.

What’s their secret? How do the French eat calorie high meals day after day, indulge in great wines, and yet remain healthier and thinner than Americans? The secret may lie in their wines.

In a recently published study in Nature magazine, researchers at Harvard Medical School and at the National Institute on Aging revealed the results of a study on resveratrol and weight loss in mice.

This study revealed that when the mice were fed resveratrol, they didn’t gain weight like their counterpart mice that ate the same high calorie meals as they did. In fact, the study also showed that the addition of resveratrol into the diets of the mice also significantly extended their life span and the quality of their lives.

Resveratrol is a key component found in red wines, grape juice, and the skin of red grapes. Could this be the reason why the French can regularly indulge without gaining excessive weight or getting heart disease as Americans so often do?

Studies Support Resveratrol for Weight Loss

Studies on resveratrol keep coming. In a study by Martin Wabitsch, MD, PhD a researcher from the University of Ulm in Germany he reported similar weight loss findings.

In his study, also on mice, Wabitsch found that the pre-fat cells in mice that usually are converted to mature fat cells within a forty hour period don’t act in the same way when the mice have been given resveratrol. He wondered if resveratrol for weight loss also worked for humans.

His research went onto human fat cells to see if resveratrol had the same or a similar effect. Using a human fat cell strain they exposed one group to resveratrol and not the other fat cell group. The results?

After forty-eight hours the unexposed fat cells had more than doubled in size. The group exposed to resveratrol fat cells had actually decreased by 40 to 45%.

Although the findings are promising for resveratrol and weight loss, doctors warn that more studies are needed on humans.

Resveratrol 101

You already know that resveratrol is found in the skins of red grapes, red wine, and grape juice. But what is this powerful substance?

Resveratrol is a chemical compound found in certain plants. It is called a phytoalexin because it acts as an antibiotic fighting off bacteria and fungi. What you might not realize is resveratrol is found in more than just grapes and wine too.

Foods containing Resveratrol:

• Skin of grapes
• Raspberries
• Mulberries
• Blueberries
• Cranberries
• Peanuts
• Japanese knotweed
• Certain Pine Trees

Resveratrol for weight loss seems to hold great promise. For now doctors and researchers caution to add these types of foods containing resveratrol to your daily diet but don’t overdue the red wine. Enjoying a glass with dinner, and adding a few of the above to your daily menu will be a great step in the right direction to boost your health.