Resveratrol

A lot of people come to the conclusion that they are getting sufficient resveratrol from their red wine consumption, which should be disproved by several pieces of fact and logic:

1) Not all red wines contain resveratrol
2) The amount varies among those which do have resveratrol
3) Resveratrol content in wine will oxidize in approximately 4 hours after opening so people who re-cork and
use at a later date are fooling themselves that they are getting the resveratrol benefits they think.
4) The amount of between 1-3 mgs in a full bottle if a wine does, in fact, contain resveratrol, is insufficient for many of the biological activities, according to some researchers based on “our findings, people might need to drink about three liters of red wine each day to get sufficient resveratrol — about 15 milligrams — for its biological effects,” Zhai says in a news release published on WebMD.com

Getting the correct resveratrol dose is important. Too much is a problem and too little from wine doesn’t reach a therapeutic level. Of course polyphenols are healthy and wine has shown to be effective in cardio and general overall health. “The French Paradox” – French people eating a rich diet have lower heart attack risk due to the red wine they consume daily – has made a lot of headlines, but it has to be taken into account that in France, the wine is part of the daily culture and the wines are grown according to strict regulations as to fertilizers etc. which leaves them with a fair amount of resveratrol.

Plants produce resveratrol to protect themselves from environmental and biological stresses. If they aren’t threatened however, there is very little resveratrol in the grape and hence, the wine.

If you drink a Shiraz from Australia for instance, there is very little resveratrol content in the wine. This is because in a hot dry climate, there is little chance of infection from pathogens (fungus) so the plant doesn’t produce any appreciable amount of resveratrol and hence the wine hardly has any at all.

If you drink a Burgandy wine from France (pinot grape) or Pinot Noir from Willamette Valley, OR there is a very real chance of infection so the plant defends itself by producing resveratrol.

The guesswork involved in all this would make you into a junior lab technician and this is why supplements are a good way to get an even daily dose of resveratrol.

Also, some people can’t drink (red) wine or don’t want the sugars or sulfides and again you don’t get the full biological activity.

Taking a resveratrol supplement daily is a much easier and consistant way of getting the benefits that resveratrol seems to offer based on all the research.

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