Researchers in Taiwan have discovered that resveratrol is very helpful in preventing damage to the inside of blood vessels as a result of trauma induced by high blood pressure.
It is not often recognized but high blood pressure can be very damaging to the lining of the arteries and cause the beginnings of more serious cardiovascular conditions. Just as running water can cause considerable damage to houses and infrastructure during flooding, so it is also inside your blood vessels.
In their experiment the researchers induced trauma to the aortas of male rats by increasing their blood pressure for 90 minutes causing them to hemorrhage. After the rats’ blood pressure was brought back to normal, the damaged areas of their aortas began producing high levels of free radicals, which caused even further damage and worsened the hemorrhaging.
Resveratrol was given to half of the rats in the experiment, after the trauma was stopped and their blood pressure was brought back to normal.
Twenty-four hours later, the researchers euthanized the rats and examined them. They found the rats that didn’t receive resveratrol had high levels of many free radicals around the damaged areas and further damage had begun.
In the rats that received resveratrol, they found much less damage in the trauma-induced areas and free radical activity had been reduced to normal levels.
The researchers noted in conclusion that resveratrol was effective in preventing endothelial dysfunction (damage to the blood vessel lining) and super-oxide production (proliferation of free radicals) that could result the hemorrhage of the aorta.
What this research shows is resveratrol can be very effective in treating the symptoms of cardiovascular disease in mammals (which as humans, we are), especially hemorrhaging in the the aorta, which if untreated could quickly result in shock and death.
Along with other mounting research, resveratrol is showing itself to be an important factor for heart health and preventing cardiovascular disease.
