7 Reasons Why You Should Be Taking Resveratrol Supplements
1. Resveratrol can increase your lifespan
Groundbreaking research by Dr David Sinclair and his team from Harvard Medical School showed that resveratrol activated the SIRT1 gene. Researchers believe that resveratrol tricks the body into believing that it is under the effects of a calorie deficient diet and thus receives the beneficial health effects such as an increased lifespan as a result. Resveratrol given to some higher forms of organisms and has shown to increase lifespan of killifish by up to a massive a 59%, yeasts by 60%, fruit fly by 29% and roundworm 15%.
2. Resveratrol can help you lose weight
Resveratrol works on several different levels in aiding weight loss. Firstly, resveratrol acts as an estrogen blocker. Estrogen has some negative effects on the body including decreased muscle mass and increased fat storage; studies have demonstrated that resveratrol actually increased the hormones responsible for signaling the body to produce more testosterone 2.7 times greater than the placebo. Increased free testosterone will actually lead to increased muscle mass and decreased body fat.
Secondly, resveratrol helps to regulate insulin production in the pancreas. High levels of insulin secretion leads to increased fat storage, which may eventually lead to insulin resistance and therefore Type II Diabetes.
3. Resveratrol in cancer prevention
Resveratrol is known to inhibit all 3 major stages of tumors development, initiation, promotion and progression, and the list of tumors it can inhibit is astounding, including prostate cancer, breast cancer, melanoma, liver cancer, brain cancer, pancreatic cancer, kidney cancer, colon cancer, ovarian and cervical cancer, lymphoma and it even acts as an anti-leukemia agent.
4. Resveratrol is anti-fungal, antiviral and acts as an anti-biotic
Because plants produce resveratrol in response stress from invading fungus, resveratrol is anti-fungal in nature and has shown to inhibit the growth of both mold and fungus. Research has also shown that resveratrol also has antiviral properties, studies have revealed that resveratrol inhibits the growth of viruses such as herpes, influenza, and has also shown to improve the potency of certain antiretroviral drugs used against HIV.
5. Resveratrol acts as a neuroprotective agent
New research on resveratrol has shed the light on some of its neuroprotective attributes. After serious brain injuries, resveratrol treatment has been shown to vastly improve the ability of the brain to recover, especially from secondary brain injury from exitotoxic events. Further, it is believed that due to its activation of the SIRT1 longevity gene, resveratrol promoted neuronal survival in the brain and it may provide a practical application to help treat neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinsons and Alzheimers disease.
6. High intake of resveratrol is not toxic
And that means more benefits of resveratrol with little side effects. Studies conducted on mice shows this. Huge resveratrol dosage (that would be present in hundreds of glasses of an average red wine) was given to the mice showed a significant boost of the advantages while there is little evidence that it shows any harm.
7. Insufficient intake of resveratrol by an average population
The main source of resveratrol is from red wine, however, resveratrol content in red wine varies. Increasing intake of red wine will increase the chance of resveratrol absorption and hence increase the advantages mentioned above, however the amount of resveratrol in red wine is minute compared to what can be taken in supplement form. Dr David Sinclair believes that to receive the benefits of resveratrol and the potential increased lifespan, mice would have to have the equivalent of 10 glasses of red wine, whereas resveratrol supplements generally have the equivalent amount of resveratrol of anywhere between 10 – 100 glasses of red wine.
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Tagged With Cancer, Neuroprotection, Red Wine, Resveratrol, Resveratrol Supplements
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What is the recommended dose of resveratrol to benefit from the 7 reasons you list?