Resveratrol: Research, Raves and Reservations
Based on the posts: “The
Wine News I've Been Waiting For”
on the website “Fermentation: The Daily Wine Blog”; “The
wonders of resveratrol”
on the website “Now with added science”; “Resveratrol
Doubles Endurance”
and “Tannins,
Not Resveratrol, Key to Heart Health” on the website SportsGeezer.com
Edited (with Introduction)
by Dr. Don Rose, Writer, Life
Alert
--
Is Resveratrol the new “wonder drug”? Is this substance (an ingredient in red wine)
the key to concocting a Fountain of Youth? With all the media attention, it may
seem that way. Perhaps it’s a coincidence that the
term “Resveratrol”
is similar to “reversal” – but recent research and opinion does suggest that Resveratrol
can help prevent or perhaps even reverse the aging process. However, some people
have reservations regarding the raves about Resveratrol. While some studies indicate
great potential, some critics are not convinced. One thing all can agree on: the
matter deserves greater investigation; this
article discusses these issues. --Don Rose
--
A Tale of Mice and Men
Research
published in
Nature in 2006 provides evidence that the flavonoid
Resveratrol (a naturally occurring compound found in grapes and red wine as well
as nuts) can improve health and survival in obese mice on a high calorie diet. The
mice given Resveratrol lived longer, had fewer signs of developing diabetes and
maintained their motor skills with age.
The researchers proposed
that Resveratrol consumption leads to longer life-spans mainly by increasing sirtuin
activity. Sirtuins are enzymes that are hypothesized to play a key role in an organism’s
response to stress; they have been implicated in increased life-span during calorie
restriction.
The key question is whether
this promising study in mice can translate into similar benefits for humans; this
will be discussed later.
Extending Endurance, Eluding Exhaustion
Resveratrol may not only
help us live longer but also help us run faster longer.
The
New York Times reported that when researchers gave resveratrol to lab mice,
the mice were able to run twice as far as resveratrol-free mice before collapsing
from exhaustion. The research, conducted at the
Institute
of
Genetics
and Molecular and Cellular Biology in
France
and published in
Cell, suggests
that resveratrol-influenced mice also have energy-charged muscles and a reduced
heart rate, just as trained athletes do.
Tannins May Be Greater Guardian of Heart Health
As promising
as these Resveratrol studies sound, the most life-extending element in red wine
may not be resveratrol at all, but rather tannins.
Scientific American reported on a study of French census data, which compared
regions with unusually long-lived men to the wine produced in those areas. The scientists,
who felt that the amount of resveratrol needed to influence the health of humans
was far greater than what could be acquired from drinking wine, found that the long-lived
regions produce local wines that are as much as
four times richer in procyanidins
(condensed tannins that suppress production of the peptide responsible for hardening
arteries) than other wine. Why? Because, according to the
SciAm report, allowing the grapes to linger on the vine for as
long as possible and then leaving them to ferment for as long as four weeks (compared
with the more typical one-week period of major wineries, which keeps the level of
harsh tannins low) enables vintners in these regions to produce ample amounts of
procyanidin.
Studies Spur Sales
It should come
as no surprise that, as WineBusiness.com reported, sales of red wine increased significantly
since the release of the results of a Harvard study that showed out of shape mice
fed high doses of Resveratrol don't seem to suffer from their unfit state. The report
of this study seemed to show up all over, including within high circulation newspapers
and magazines. It followed a more-than-decade-long stream of medical studies that
show an apparent link between wine consumption and healthy living. However, this
is the first report since the 60 Minutes show on the
"French Paradox" back in 1991 that really gained steam in the media.
Did people understand
that you'd almost have to drink yourself to death in order to take in the same amount
of resveratrol as the mice were fed? That appeared to be beside the point. What
consumers took away from the news was a simple message: wine, and red wine in particular,
is good for you. The result of this marketing message: in the four weeks after the
results of the study came out, there were significant sales increases in red wine
in nearly every measurable category, according to AC Nielsen statistics. The
Santa Rosa Press
Democrat stated that local wineries reported
their best
sales in history in November 2006. Perhaps not
equal to the monumental sales increases after the
60 Minutes airing,
but it was the kind of sales increases that gets everyone's attention.
Conclusion
It is not proven
that we can get the same benefits as mice did in the aforementioned Resveratrol
studies, because drinking an equivalent amount of red wine may be too difficult
for us humans. Some have pointed out that a person would need to drink about 100
glasses of wine a day to match the dose given to mice in the 2006
Nature study, and
such high doses may certainly damage health in humans.
Moderation is key, according
to many experts, who advocate one or two glasses of red wine as a good daily ballpark
to shoot for. However, the question then becomes: can just a couple of glasses a
day cut it with regards to gaining any health benefits?
The best solution
may lie in the near future, when supplemental methods of getting the amount of Resveratrol
needed for improved health will hopefully become widely available and affordable
-- perhaps becoming as easy as visiting your local vitamin store or supplement website.
Health benefits might come from resveratrol-like synthetic compounds that can stimulate
sirtuins, and hence provide similar benefits as those seen in mice that were part
of the Nature experiment.
Meanwhile, a one-to-two glass
a day red wine regimen seems a good way to start, based on the results and conclusions
that have been published and publicized thus far. Eventually, combining such a regimen
with Resveratrol supplements may enable us to extend the healthy range of the human
lifespan in ways we once only dreamed about.
The article above is covered by a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. The information provided is, to the best
of our knowledge, reliable and accurate. However, while Life Alert always strives
to provide true, precise and consistent information, we cannot guarantee 100 percent
accuracy. Readers are encouraged to review the original article, and use any resource
links provided to gather more information before drawing conclusions and making
decisions.
Dr. Don Rose writes books, papers and articles
on computers, the Internet, AI, science and technology, and issues related to seniors.
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