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.

Lindsay Brown, associate professor in the School of Biomedical Sciences at The University of Queensland and author of the research says “The breadth of benefits is remarkable – cancer prevention, protection of the heart and brain from damage, reducing age-related diseases such as inflammation, reversing diabetes and obesity, and many more.”

“It has long been a question as to how such a simple compound could have these effects but now the puzzle is becoming clearer with the discovery of the pathways, especially the sirtuins, a family of enzymes that regulate the production of cellular components by the nucleus.

The major points to the study established the following:

Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemo-prevention as well as cardio-protection. Brown states “It sounds contradictory that a single compound can benefit the heart by preventing damage to cells, yet prevent cancer by causing cell death,.”The most likely explanation is that low concentrations of Resveratrol activate survival mechanisms of cells while high concentrations turn on the in-built death signals in these cells.”

Resveratrol may inhibit age-related disorders, like neurodegenerative and cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and inflammation. Brown says “The simplest explanation is that resveratrol turns on the cell’s own survival pathways, preventing damage to individual cells,”. “Further mechanisms help, including removing very reactive oxidants in the body and improving blood supply to cells.”

Low doses of resveratrol increase cellular survival as a function of cardio- and neuro-protection, while high Resveratrol doses increase cell death. “The key difference is probably the result of activation of the sirtuins in the nucleus,” said Brown. “Low activation reverses age-associated changes, while high activation increases the process of apoptosis or programmed cell death to remove cellular debris. Similar changes are seen with low-dose versus high-dose resveratrol: low-dose resveratrol produces cellular protection and reduces damage, while high-dose resveratrol prevents cancers,” Said Brown.

These findings seem to point to resveratrol’s dual role in both maintaining health blood flow and heart health when taken in lower doses, while also exhibiting anti-cancer ant-tumor qualities in larger doses.
Final notes made by Stephen Taylor, from the University of Queensland Pharmacology department, is that red wine Resveratrol is largely inactivated by the digestive processes in the stomach and liver before it reaches the blood stream. So, he concludes that the biological effects could be even more profound with greater bioavailability – this suggests the possible potency of Resveratrol supplements that deliver Resveratrol in capsules, that can pass through the digestive process without dissolving rapidly, may be a better source of Resveratrol than tablet or powders.

However, the actual concentrations of resveratrol are also generally higher in red wine than the other resveratrol sources as well. So it really is the “poster child” of the resveratrol movement afterall! And as it turns out, revealed by the list below, Spanish red wines take top honors overall for their high resveratrol concentrations.

Beverage | Total resveratrol (mg/liter) | Total resveratrol in a 5-oz glass (mg)

White wines (Spanish) 0.05-1.80 | 0.01-0.27
Rosé wines (Spanish) 0.43-3.52 | 0.06-0.53
Red wines (Spanish) 1.92-12.59 | 0.29-1.89
Red wines (global) 1.98-7.13 | 0.30-1.07
Red grape juice (Spanish) 1.14-8.69 | 0.17-1.30
*

So, if you enjoy drinking red wine, you might want to consider getting your red wine resveratrol dose by purchasing some Spanish reds and see how they taste to your palette. If you can find some great wine then you get the best of both worlds!

Of course, if you want to get a more concentrated and larger resveratrol dosage, or don’t enjoy drinking red wine, then purchasing resveratrol supplements may be your preferred way to experience the potential health benefits associated with it.

As noted in other earlier posts on this blog, most resveratrol supplements utilize the resveratrol processed from Japanese Knotweed ( Polygonum Cuspidatum ) because of its abundance and inexpensive qualities. The resveratrol molecule isolated from wine, peanuts or knotweed or any other source is still the same molecule, so it doesn’t matter so much where it originates other than it is organic or not sprayed with pesticides.

For those of you like me, you can drink red wine and be merry and take daily supplements for that added boost!

*ref. Linus Paul Institute, OR

The reason for this is simply the acknowledgement of the fact that most people still associate Resveratrol with red wine and vineyard grapes. The fact of the matter, is that Resveratrol exists in many common plants and food such as peanuts, blueberries, lingonberries, sparkleberries, cranberries, deerberries, partridgeberries, bilberries, eucalyptus, spruce, pine, and lily. The most abundant and cheapest Resveratrol source is from the Japanese knotweed (Polygonum Capsidatum)

Japanese Knotweed is the primary source for the majority of Resveratrol supplements because of its abundance, ease of extraction, and economic cost. The source of Resveratrol is not as important as the marketers want you to believe though. Ultimately though, Resveratrol has a specific molecular structure and is isolated thus from any of these sources – in the end it is the same molecule.

One company has recently come out with a liquid supplement that is trying to capitalize on this same misconception. I was in Costco the other day loading up on my bi-weekly family size grocery packs and other tantalizing consumer goods they interweave throughout the warehouse. Arriving at the lunch hour rush, meant I was bumping carts perpetually gravitating towards the sample tables. One in particular jumped out to me – they were sampling a new Resveratrol infused beverage supplement called Reversitall Plus by a company called Neocell.

Resversitall Plus supplement’s key selling point is that it derives its resveratrol from red wine and muscadine grapes. It uses a full glass of red wine and a bowl full of red muscadine grapes in its advertising literature to hammer this point home to the uninformed masses roaming the isles of Costco hunting for their next free snack!

The pitch is that you get your dose of Resveratrol and some other antioxidant nutrients from pomegranate without the alcohol. I checked out the dosage of Resveratrol on their website, because it wasn’t listed in their brochure and it was stated as providing 2 mg (2000mcg) for two tablespoons. A dose they claim equal to drinking 1 bottle of red wine. They also claim a superior patented process that preserves and delivers a bioactive concentration of Resveratrol that is easily absorbed in the body.

I did try my sample and it tasted pretty good. My main thought was it was great that Resveratrol awareness was now main stream and more people would soon start getting the potential benefits from this wonderful little molecule that is exciting researchers worldwide.