Resveratrol is a polyphenol type flavonoid currently
exciting great interest as a potential boon to health.
Like other flavonoids and polyphenols, it is a very useful
anti-oxidant in its own right, but resveratrol has
attracted particular attention as a potential solution to
the so-called "French Paradox".
This is the term used to describe the phenomenon, which has
long been a puzzle to medical science, by which rates of
cardiovascular disease in France have remained low relative
to those in the rest of the developed world, despite the
widespread national consumption of a diet high in animal
fat and cholesterol, and a firmly entrenched tobacco habit.
Of course France also enjoys many of the benefits of the
so-called Mediterranean diet through its high intake of
fresh fruit and vegetables, oily fish and olive oil, but
there are good reasons to think that the consumption of red
wine may be the real explanation of the apparent paradox.
It is known in any case that the moderate consumption of
alcohol has a significant protective effect on the
cardiovascular system, reducing disease by as much as
20-30%, but conventional medical opinion is
characteristically cautious in acknowledging that the
resveratrol in red wine may have any benefits over and
above those which would in any case be provided by the
alcohol. However, the role of fat-soluble anti-oxidants
in protecting the circulatory system from damaging free
radical attack is well understood, and it would therefore
appear that the resveratrol and other polyphenols contained
in red wine can only be beneficial. Laboratory tests,
moreover, have shown resveratrol to have significant
anti-coagulant and anti-inflammatory effects.
For the purposes of obtaining your intake of resveratrol
from wine you need to know that it's contained principally
in the skins of red or black grapes, and is consequently
found in significant quantities only in those wines
produced by an initial pulp fermentation which allows the
developing alcohol to leach both colour and other
substances, including resveratrol, from the skins. It
follows that the longer this pulp fermentation is allowed
to continue the more resveratrol the wine will contain. So
the colour of the wine is a handy guide. Generally, the
richer and darker the colour of the wine the more
resveratrol will be found. Rose types and light reds may
contain some, but white wines produced by a juice
fermentation alone will provide little if any.
Usually it is the red wines produced in the sunnnier
climates close to the Mediterranean, and the New World,
which will be richest in resveratrol, and dark red wines of
this type may provide as much as 2 mg of resveratrol in a
small 5 oz glass. But unfortunately from a health point of
view, these also tend to be the strongest in alcohol and
the so-called "congeners" which accentuate hangovers.
But fortunately for those who dislike red wine, or are
concerned about alcohol intake, other sources of
resveratrol are available. The amount in foods varies
widely, but the best sources are peanuts and red grapes,
both of which may provide anywhere between 0.3 and 1.3 mg
of resveratrol per cup. Bilberries and cranberries may
also be a useful source.
Supplements of resveratrol are also now readily available,
principally in the form of red wine or red grape extracts,
which will also contain other anti-oxidant polyphenols.
Manufacturers' recommended doses will typically provide
between 10 and 50 mg of resveratrol, which would require a
very high, and potentially hazardous, level of wine
consumption to achieve regularly.
That said, there is no known toxicity from taking
resveratrol, as such, although its blood thinning
properties will tend to inhibit the blood's clotting
ability and resveratrol is therefore not recommended for
those taking anti-coagulant drugs such as warfarin, or
certain types of anti-inflammatory including aspirin.
Needless to say, however, toxicity problems of a different
kind may occur if alcoholic drinks are used to excess as
the principal or only source.
But as noted above, moderate consumption is generally
recognised to be beneficial to health, particularly for the
cardiovascular system. So the message seems to be: if you
want to enjoy a couple of glasses of wine with your dinner
then go right ahead. And have that age old pleasure
enhanced by the knowledge that the resveratrol it contains
is also doing you some good.
----------------------------------------------------
Steve Smith is a freelance copywriter specialising in
direct marketing and with a particular interest in health
products.
Find out more at
http://www.sisyphuspublicationsonline.com/LiquidNutrition/In
formation.htm
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