Posts tagged resveratol

Lately there has been renewed interest in examining more clearly the roles that natural plants play in aiding regulation of balance in the human body. Resveratrol and several other noted products have quickly gained prominence as researchers discover ever more exciting properties in terms of human longevity and the potential to treat human disease. Many of the more alkaline based natural plant life, when edible are extremely potent anti-oxidants.

Resveratrol in particular has proven to be extraordinarily exciting for researchers because of the plethora of diseases that early research has shown Resveratrol has positive action on in mice, nematodes and smaller animals sharing a large portion of the human DNA. There are even strong hints that chronic lifestyle type diseases such as Diabetes Type 2 and symptoms leading to high blood pressure may react positively to Resveratrol.  The Japanese Knotweed is one of the primary natural sources of Resveratrol. Resveratrol is now available in convenient capsule form.

One of the paths that first led modern researchers to review Resveratrol differently within the past decade has been the emergence of what some are calling the French Paradox. The french apparently have lower incidences of high blood pressure and heart attacks as a population than many others in the western world. The theory put forward was that perhaps it was something common to their diet but uncommon to the diet of other westerners.

The most obvious to most onlookers is the love of the French for their red wine, which is often consumed at nearly every dinner and for some almost all meals. Red wine, not white wine, contains trace amounts of Resveratrol of between 4-6 grams per liter. Some researches say that by the time the stomach digests or converts this there is too little Resveratrol that gets into the blood stream. Others say that the French drink so much red wine and so frequently that these small amounts have an accumulative effect over many years.

The truth is that at this moment, the French Paradox remains just that, a paradox that is numerically clear but its true causes are still not yet 100% confirmed by the scientific community. Closer to the truth, it would appear that one would need to drink an awful lot of red wine to get the Resveratrol effect – substantially more than most of the rest of the world is accustomed to drinking. Hence the re-emergence of the Resveratrol anti-aging industry.

I say re-emergence because the Japanese are probably chuckling heartily at the world’s new found fascination for Resveratrol since they have been processing it from the knotweed plant from the early 1940’s. Attributes given to Resveratrol is that it might a brilliant impact on slowing down the aging process of the body. It is now being used to effect visible aging of the skin cells and some are using it to attack wrinkles and fine lines on facial skin.

Very few products can make such claims and although some would objectively say that there is no finite proof of this at this time, the weight of hundreds if not thousands of positive anecdotal stories and the commercialization of the product for this purpose means that those with skin problems are not wanting to wait the 5-10 years for more scientific double blind studies to emerge.

Here are some of the other attributes being associated with Resveratrol. As mentioned above, some of these may be in various stages of small or large scale testing for medical proofs and large scale testing can take 2 to 10 years to complete.

Increasing human sensitivity to insulin. Possibility of better treatments for type 2 diabetes.

The possibiilty of positively effecting certain types of cancer cells in multiple ways. Breast and pancreatic cancer research is being done now.

Possibility of triggering the body into the state where it survives on the reduced calore diet that has proven to extend life and lead to lower weight through a significantly lower calores requirement than was thought by the FDA.

Drinking red wine frequently and in large amounts is certainly an enjoyable way to add Resveratrol to your diet. The French like the Japanese are most likely smiling at this vision of the rest of the world suddenly honing in on what they have suspected for quite some time however the truth is that the amounts of red wine required for consumption is simply out of range and not a viable option for most of the rest of us. Part of the paradox is that those in the know say you can’t even drink enough Red Wine to get the amounts of Resveratrol required. Getting Resveratrol into your diet in other ways is preferable for most. Take a resveratrol capsule or two  daily and get its many benefits now.