Dear Reader,
I have written about the remarkable anti-aging powers of an ingredient in red wine called resveratrol. Since then, new studies have revealed even more about this remarkable antioxidant.
Resveratrol is most abundant in the skins of red grapes used to make red wine. It slows the buildup of platelets in blood vessels, making them less sticky. This improves blood flow. Resveratrol can slow the growth of cancer, stimulate your immune system, lower inflammation and act as a powerful antioxidant.
Researchers at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston show that resveratrol blocks prostate cancer at every stage. It helps more than a dozen different anticancer mechanisms in your body. What’s more, resveratrol targets cancer cells selectively. It’s toxic to cancer cells but doesn’t harm healthy cells. It also modulates hormones; stops cancer cells from multiplying and can actually destroy cancer cells.
Resveratrol may add years to your life, too. Studies using both mice and yeast show that 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. It turns out that humans can also activate the SIRT protein with resveratrol.
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 helped muscles produce more energy, reduced their heart rate and gave them endurance the researchers compared to trained athletes.
What’s more, resveratrol protected mice from gaining weight and developing the symptoms of diabetes and obesity. The benefits included an improved sensitivity to insulin, which is the key to maintaining ideal weight and avoiding diabetes.
A study of men and women from Finland showed that resveratrol is likely to work the same way in humans. “Resveratrol makes you look like a trained athlete without the training,” said Johan Auwerx, one of the lead researchers.
You can easily start getting more resveratrol from your diet. Aside from red wine, blueberries, cranberries, bilberries and red grapes are good sources too.
You can also take a supplement. They’re available in most health food stores. I recommend a dose ranging from 20 to 50mg daily.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD