Resveratrol is a very interesting compound. Taken in sufficient quantities it switches on the Sirtuin gene and triggers the survival mechanism in us, which includes increased glucose metabolism, fat reduction, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory properties, protection against heart disease and neuro-degenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s disease. You have to love a single compound that can do all this.
The key phrase though is, “in sufficient quantities”.
The part of the resveratrol story that has captured the imagination of the public is the connection it has with the French Paradox, made omnipresent by Morley Safer’s 60 Minutes report about it a while ago. I don’t know about you, but I came away from that thinking, “OK, well I better stock up on the old red wine. Actually, why not crack a bottle right now!”
How can you resist the notion; get hammered on red wine every day, extend your life. It’s seductive, and although David Sinclair was careful to point out it would take about a thousand bottles of red wine a day to get the effects demonstrated by the mice in his experiments, part of you still blots all that out and embraces this lovely little plan of gulping your way to a hundred years old.
The truth is, red wine, be it Spanish, Muscadine, or any other variety, while it undoubtedly contains resveratrol, it doesn’t contain enough to make any significant difference to your health. At least, not in the manner demonstrated in clinical experiments like those performed by Sinclair and the hundreds of other researchers studying it.
Red wine has shown to have health benefits by virtue of it’s anti-oxidant properties, and low doses of alcohol have been recognized as healthful for quite some time now, but as for it providing resveratrol in quantities sufficient to activate your sirtuin gene … not likely.
And as for the French Paradox, there are “many” other elements that contribute to explaining the long lives of the French compared with Americans, not least of which is the fact that the foods they eat, while high in fat, are natural. They eat a lot of dairy. Yes, they drown vegetables in fat, but it’s butter they cook with, not margarine. Cheese comes from milk, that comes from cows. Their salad dressings are made from natural oils and vinegar, not the bizarre synthetic concoctions found in the US.
Oh, and yes, they don’t eat quite so much!
Don’t get me wrong, I love resveratrol, I wouldn’t have a site devoted to it if I didn’t. I just don’t think you will get the amount of resveratrol you need to make significant changes in your health from the old red wine bottle. Yes, red grapes and red wine are romantic, but the most concentrated natural source of resveratrol is Polygonum cuspidatum, or for us lay people, Japanese Knotweed.
To get the quantities of resveratrol that you need to make a difference in your health you need to take a resveratrol supplement. An not just any resveratrol supplement, but one that has Polygonum cuspidatum as the main ingredient with a daily serving of at least 500 mg. 500 mg of Polygonum cuspidatum plant extract provides you with around 250 mg of trans-resveratrol, and this get you in the ballpark of the quantities of resveratrol used in research experiments that have shown such positive results.
Hey, don’t give up the glass of red wine with dinner, but take resveratrol supplements too. Cheers!
