Benefits of Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a polyphenol antioxidant found in red wine, peanuts, grapes and purple grape juice and a host of other berries. When ingested, polyphenol antioxidants are easily absorbed by humans but it's presence in the body is short lived since Resveratrol are quickly metabolized and finished. Researchers became interested in Resveratrol as a health enhancer when the substance was discovered in red wide, something that led to the French paradox. All along moderated consumption of alcohol as always been linked to some significant drop in cardio related diseases, but the line between polyphenol antioxidants and this reduction remains blurry.

The fact that polyphenol antioxidant have shown some strong anti cancer properties in laboratory animals, it has not been established whether larger doses of polyphenol antioxidant such as resveratrol can have the same effects in humans. In lab controlled research, Resveratrol has significantly improved the lifespan of nematode works, fruit flies, mice and small fish types that were fed a diet rich in resveratrol. This research model has not been tried in humans to see if the same effects can be replicated in humans.

Chemical composition

Resveratrol as explained above belongs to a family of polyphenolic compounds known as stilbenes. Polyphenols are compounds produced by plants when attacked by pathogens such as fungi and bacteria. Resveratrol, therefore, are produced by plants in response to pathogenic infection. Resveratrol dissolves in fat.

Metabolic Synthesis of resveratrol

Though resveratrol is easily absorbed by the body when swallowed, it's presence in the bloodstream is short lived, this is because of the fast metabolic rate that eliminates it from the body. This phenomenon has been observed through controlled research, in one such research 5 men were given resveratrol supplements, and after a few minutes only miniscule traces of resveratrol could be detected in the blood plasma of the participants. The resveratrol concentration after ingestion appeared to peak 30 minutes later irrespective of the administration agent - in this case red wine and vegetable juice was used.

It's very important to know the duration or bioavailability of resveratrol in the human body because initial research into the effectiveness of resveratrol has been done using cultured cells of lab animals. This is often done using research at concentrations that either too high or too low for humans. The difference in the digestive system structure of lab mice where research researh has been done also means that results from such finding are of little use; since it doesn't provide information relevant to humans.

How to benefit from resveratrol

Frequent consumption of red wine has been shown to increase the intake of resveratrol in humans. resveratrol is formed during the fermentation process of red grapes in the wine making process. This means that the darker the wine, the richer it is with resveratrol, longer fermentation process is also advantageous. Given these characteristics, it's obvious that wine produces in warmer climes is the best in terms of resveratrol concentrations.

How to benefit from resveratrol

Resveratrol has no toxicity issues, the problem is usually over-consumption of alcohol which could result to health problems.