Dear Health Conscious Reader,
Did you happen to catch CBS’s 60 Minutes last night? There was an anti-aging story that caught my attention.
Morley Safer spoke to Dr. Christoph Westphal about the remarkable power of resveratrol, a natural compound found in red wine.
Dr. Westphal is impressed by resveratrol’s potential. He co-founded a biotech company to develop resveratrol-based drugs. The idea is that this drug will activate your longevity gene.
But here’s the deal with resveratrol: You don’t have to wait for a resveratrol-based drug to get its anti-aging benefits.
Resveratrol is available right now.
You can take the pure, natural form of resveratrol – not the chemical, synthetic version researchers cook up in their labs. It’s proven effective and completely safe. Today, I’ll show you how to take it and where to get it.
Research on resveratrol started with the French Paradox, a term coined to explain a phenomenon observed in French people. They have better heart health in spite of eating a high-fat diet and drinking more red wine than most other cultures.
Lab tests traced this effect back to resveratrol, which is most abundant in the skins of red grapes used to make red wine. It slows the build-up of platelets in blood vessels, making them less sticky. This thins your blood and improves blood flow.1*
Research also shows that resveratrol can help prevent unhealthy cell growth. It switches on your immune system, lowers inflammation and acts as a powerful antioxidant. In fact, researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston consider resveratrol the best way to fight certain health disasters. It also modulates hormones, stops damaged cells from multiplying, and can actually destroy these dangerous cells.2*
Resveratrol may add years to your life, too.3* Studies using both mice and yeast show resveratrol turns on a gene that stimulates a protein called SIRT. The greater the activity of SIRT, the greater the life span of yeast and mice.
The newest round of studies from the Institute of Genetics, Molecular and Cellular Biology in France found that resveratrol helped mice run twice as far during exercise. It super-charged their muscles, reduced their heart rate and gave them endurance power comparable to trained athletes.4*
A study of men and women from Finland showed that resveratrol is likely to operate the same way in humans. “Resveratrol makes you look like a trained athlete without the training,” said Johan Auwerx, one of the lead researchers from the Institute in France.
What’s more, resveratrol protected mice from gaining weight and developing the symptoms of diabetes and obesity. The benefits included a heightened sensitivity to insulin, which is the key to maintaining your ideal weight and avoiding diseases like diabetes.
While more research is needed to determine how much resveratrol you need to get the same results, you can easily start by getting more resveratrol from your diet. If you’re not a fan of red wine, resveratrol is also in:
• Raisins
• Red Grapes
• Blueberries
• Cranberries
• Purple Grape Juice
• Peanuts
• Mulberries
Resveratrol is also available as a supplement. A good dose for prevention is between 20-mg and 50-mg per day. For anti-aging, I recommend at least 100-mg. Resveratrol has never been associated with any worrisome side effects. You can take it any time of day, with or without food.
For a potent, reliable source of resveratrol, click HERE.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
P.S. In case you missed the broadcast, go to: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/25/60minutes/main4752082.shtml
1 Lu, Kwok Tung et al. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (Vol. 54, pp. 3126-3131)
2 Stewart JR, Artime MC, O’Brian CA. “Resveratrol: a candidate nutritional substance for prostate cancer prevention.” J Nutr. 133 (7 Suppl). July 2003
3 Howitz KT, Bitterman KJ, Cohen HY, Lamming DW, Lavu S, Wood JG, Zipkin RE, Chung P, Kisielewski A, Zhang LL, Scherer B, Sinclair DA. Small molecule activators of sirtuins extend Saccharomyces cerevisiae lifespan. Nature 2003 Aug 24:5 pp (online).
4 Lagouge, M., C. Argmann, et al. (2006). “Resveratrol improves mitochondrial function and protects against metabolic disease by activating SIRT1 and PGC-1alpha.” Cell 127(6): 1109-22.