Resveratrol

Trans Resveratrol or Resveratrol is a compound found organically and naturally occurring deep within red grapes, in some berries and some plants. It is a plant’s antibiotic and serves to protect plants from the harmful threats and effects of bacteria. It eats fungi and bacteria and helps in the fight against free radicals. Trans Resveratrol is a strong kind of antioxidant and is highly capable of causing the inhibition of other molecules from oxidizing. The chemical reaction known as oxidation is the transferring of hydrogen or other electrons to an oxidizing agent. This kind of chemical reaction produces free radicals. The free radicals produced can cause further chain reactions. If this occurs inside a cell membrane, death or damage can happen to the cell. Trans Resveratrol as an antioxidant causes the termination of the chain reactions and thereby removes the intermediaries of the free radicals and thus inhibiting oxidation reaction.

Trans Resveratrol, in fighting the free radicals in the body, prevents the cause and development of cancer cells, heart disease, body and skin cell damage. It was discovered at the Harvard University by Dr. David Sinclair that Trans Resveratrol causes the increase of protein production in the body called SIRT1. This SIRT1 is an enzyme, which is believed to be the cause of a longer lifespan in humans. Dr. David Sinclair is a doctor of philosophy and is a biologist famous for his research on lifespan extension. His study of Trans Resveratrol was due to his research on how to treat the diseases caused by ageing. He found out that Trans Resveratrol in red wine as consumed by French nationals on a daily basis caused the lowering of heart attacks.

Trans Resveratrol is widely produced in plants with the aid of the enzyme called resveratrol synthase. It was in the year 1940 where it was originally isolated from the ‘hellebore’ roots by Takaoka. In the year 1963, isolation had been made of the Trans Resveratrol compound from the Japanese knotweed. It was in the year 1992 where the compound gained popularity. The rise in its popularity was due to the suggestion that red wine containing the Trans Resveratrol was responsible for protecting the heart.
Trans Resveratrol found in food has differences in levels of content. In red wine, the level of content is from 0.2 to 5.8 mg. per liter , but is dependent on the variety of the grape used in the calculation. White wine has a lesser level of Trans Resveratrol content compared to red wine. The reason for this diversity in content level is because red wine undergoes fermentation with its skin intact, the wine extract with the skin intact allows for a higher level. Fermentation of white wine is made after the removal of the skin. This decreases the content level significantly without the skin during fermentation. There are reports made that muscadine grapes have a higher concentration of the trans resveratrol compound which could reach up to 40 mg per liter. There are different varieties of muscadine grapes which were found not to contain any level of the compound.