What Makes Resveratrol The New Health Supplement To Be Reckoned With?

What links Oprah Winfrey, a glass of Bordeaux and a 67 year-old swimming champion?

The answer is resveratrol. This natural compound has been quietly conferring its health benefits to millions of people for centuries. The Mediterranean Diet, famed for its association with long life, low rates of cancer and heart disease and continued wellbeing, counts resveratrol as one of its key ingredients. This is because it is found in a range of health-enhancing foods including peanuts, mulberries and red grapes.

Meet resveratrol

Like vitamins C and E, resveratrol is an antioxidant. Put simply, antioxidants are molecules that inhibit oxidation, a chemical process that occurs as part of the damage and ageing process in animal and plant cells. The body naturally contains some antioxidants, including enzymes, but relies on dietary intake for many more. In the same way that oranges are a great source of vitamin C, a range of berries and grape products, including wine, have been identified as natural sources of resveratrol.
What can resveratrol do for me?

As scientific research into this compound continues, more and more surprising advantages are being discovered. Animal studies have shown that it promotes longer life in mice, and it has repeatedly been suggested as an explanation for the 'French Paradox'. This situation puzzled the medical profession for decades, with research prior to the identification of resveratrol in red wine providing no explanation as to why the French traditionally lived on a diet high in saturated fat, yet had a lower rate of heart disease and a longer life expectancy than many other countries.
Early studies have produced even more exciting results. Based on initial trials, it seems likely that resveratrol may have a future in fighting cancer, diabetes and a range of viruses including herpes, influenza and the frequently deadly CMV.

Anti-ageing effects

Unsurprisingly, resveratrol is touted as a great natural anti-aging product. Ageing is scientifically defined as a gradual process of cell damage and destruction. As resveratrol is known to slow down the ageing of individual cells by oxidation, the whole body benefits from a slowing down in the ageing process, effectively staying younger and healthier for longer.

Supplements

Resveratrol supplements come in a range of different forms, some of which are up to 1000 times more effective than red wine in delivering the antioxidant to the body. The advantage of the supplement form is that it allows the body to receive sufficiently high levels of the active form of resveratrol (trans-resveratrol) to be effective, in convenient capsules or creams that fit around an active lifestyle. Also, time-release preparations are now a reality, with Transmax being the first product that releases resveratrol over a controlled period to maximise its benefits to the body.

Resveratrol is a humble compound that has got both the scientific and the celebrity communities buzzing. Its proven benefits for health and its potential for medical cures go hand in hand to make it one of the most desirable products on display in today's health food market.

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