Here’s great news that will help you slash your risk of heart attack, high blood pressure and all forms of heart disease: Researchers uncovered “hidden” benefits from the popular heart and longevity nutrient resveratrol.
Turns out resveratrol stimulates the production of adult stem cells called endothelial progenitor cells.
These stem cells are so powerful, they have the ability to seek out, repair and heal the trouble areas in the lining of your blood vessels called the endothelial cell barrier or ECB.
Since the release of a landmark study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2003, scientists and researchers have focused more and more on the power of these endothelial progenitor cells.
And for good reason. The study from the New England Journal of Medicine showed a “strong correlation” between the number of progenitor cells circulating in the blood and a person’s overall risk of heart disease.1
The connection is so strong, I could make the case that the number of progenitor cells will become the new “marker” of cardiovascular health, even replacing the two major forms of cholesterol, HDL and LDL.
Simply stated, the more of these progenitor cells you have, the more likely you are to avoid disease. This view is supported by the fact that patients with diabetes, high blood pressure and/or cardiovascular disease have low levels of progenitor cells.
Studies showed, “the number of endothelial progenitor cells was significantly reduced in patients with hypercholesteroemia (extremely high cholesterol levels) compared with that in control subjects.”2
In these patients with very high cholesterol, they found the ability of endothelial progenitor cells to proliferate, migrate, adhere to vessel walls and induce the regeneration of blood vessels was weakened.
Resveratrol had the opposite effect.
In many recent studies I’ve read, I find that resveratrol increases the number of
these endothelial progenitor cells.3,4,5,6Resveratrol also has the distinction of activating telomerase, the enzyme that rebuilds your telomeres.
These two critical functions are enabled by resveratrol’s ability to “turn on” genes that promote longevity, and “turn off” genes that promote disease.7
By influencing the way genes are expressed, resveratrol has the ability to activate anti-aging genes called sirtuins.
Sirtuins transmit signals to every cell in your body that literally cancel out the effects of aging. They bring the processes that lead cell death to a crawl, buying your body more time to repair the DNA damage that brings life to an end.
I recommend adding foods rich in resveratrol to your diet. They include grapes and vaccinium berries like blueberries, bilberries and cranberries. Peanuts also have resveratrol.
Wine and related beverages are a particularly good source of dietary resveratrol. But you’d need to drink hundreds of glasses of wine to experience the life-extending benefits of resveratrol.
Resveratrol supplements are a better option. They’re inexpensive and completely safe. You can take it any time of day, with or without food.You can find them in health food stores or on line. I recommend taking at least 10 mg to 20 mg per day for telomerase activation and the stimulation of endothelial progenitor cells.
1. Hill JM, Zalos G, Halcox JP, et al. Circulating endothelial progenitor cells, vascular function, and cardiovascular risk. N Engl J Med. 2003 Feb 13;348(7):593-600.
2. Chen JZ, Zhang FR, Tao QM, Wang XX, Zhu JH, Zhu JH. Number and activity of endothelial progenitor cells from peripheral blood in patients with hypercholesterolaemia. Clin Sci (Lond). 2004 Sep;107(3):273-80.
3. Balestrieri ML, Schiano C, Felice F, et al. Effect of low doses of red wine and pure resveratrol on circulating endothelial progenitor cells. J Biochem (Tokyo). 2007 Nov 4.
4. Wang XB, Huang J, Zou JG, et al. Effects of resveratrol on number and activity of endothelial progenitor cells from human peripheral blood. Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2007 Nov;34(11):1109-15.
5. Lefèvre J, Michaud SE, Haddad P, et al. Moderate consumption of red wine (cabernet sauvignon) improves ischemia-induced neovascularization in ApoE-deficient mice: Effect on endothelial progenitor cells and nitric oxide. FASEB J. 2007 Jul 19.
6. J G, Cq W, Hh F, et al. Effects of resveratrol on endothelial progenitor cells and their contributions to reendothelialization in intima-injured rats. J Cardiovasc Pharmacol. 2006 May;47(5):711-21.
7. Wang XB, Zhu L, Huang J, Yin YG, Kong XQ, Rong QF, Shi AW, Cao KJ. Resveratrol-induced augmentation of telomerase activity delays senescence of endothelial progenitor cells. Chin Med J (Engl). 2011 Dec;124(24):4310-5.