Want to Defy Aging with Resveratrol? Choose Supplements Over Wine

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A mini-review of recent findings on the power of red wine’s polyphenols, with a focus on resveratrol, will be published in September in a leading alcohol research journal. Lindsay Brown, one of the review’s authors, says “The breadth of [resveratrol’s] 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.”

Some of the highlights:

• Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer prevention and heart disease prevention.
• Resveratrol may aid in the prevention of age-related disorders such as neurodegenerative disease, inflammation, diabetes and heart disease.
• Low doses of resveratrol improve cell survival by protecting heart and nerve cells, while high doses initiate death in damaged cells, which may be the way it helps prevent cancer.
  
  
  

Reviewers noted that not much of the resveratrol in red wine is absorbed via your intestines. You can actually absorb more of it through the mucous membranes in your mouth, a good reason to sip and savor your wine slowly!

However, you can’t rely on just any wine to deliver the goods, as the amount of resveratrol varies greatly among different wines. Highest amounts are found in red wine produced from grapes grown organically in cold, humid climates, such as the Bordeaux region of France and Canada. And while having a glass of red wine a night does seem to offer some health benefits, many would argue that there are negative effects associated with even moderate alcohol consumption that might warrant avoiding it altogether. What’s important to realize is that to get the consistent, high amounts of resveratrol shown to have beneficial effects in studies, you need a supplement.

Shopping for resveratrol is tricky. The amount listed on the front of the label is not necessarily the amount of active resveratrol in the product. You need to look at the Supplement Facts label to see the amount of active, standardized resveratrol you will be getting. For example, the supplement may be labeled as containing 400 mg of resveratrol, but the detailed Supplement Facts label may show that it is “standardized to 20%.” This means that you’re actually getting 20% of those 400 mg, which is actually an effective dose of just 80 mg. Look for a supplement that provides you with an effective dose of at least 300 – 400 mg.

The Anti-Aging Bottom Line: Enjoy your red wine with dinner if you want, but don’t think of it as a resveratrol supplement. If you want to get the anti-aging disease prevention benefits of resveratrol, we highly recommend that you take a high quality, standardized supplement.

Tags: alcohol, healthy aging, heart disease prevention, heart health, obesity, resveratrol