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Red Wine's Polyphenol Compound Resveratrol
Has Significant Health Benefits
The Benefits of Alcohol Are All About Moderation.
Low
to moderate drinking, especially of red wine, appears to reduce
all
causes of mortality, while too much drinking causes multiple organ
damage. A mini-review of recent findings on red wine's polyphenols,
particularly one called resveratrol, will be published in the September
issue of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research;
"Reports
on the benefits of red wine are almost two centuries old,"
explained
the lead researcher at the School of Biomedical Sciences
at The
University of Queensland and corresponding author for the study.
"The
media developed the more recent story of the French paradox in
the
early 1990s. However, studies on the actions of resveratrol, one of
the
active non-alcoholic ingredients, were uncommon until research
around
1997 showed prevention of cancers. This led to a dramatic interest
in
this compound."
Red
wine contains a complex mixture of bioactive compounds, including
flavonols, monomeric and polymeric flavanols, highly colored
anthocyanins,
as well as phenolic acids and the stilbene polyphenol,
resveratrol. Brown
said that some of these compounds, particularly
resveratrol, appear to have
significant health benefits.
The
range of benefits is remarkable, including 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. 'Is resveratrol the only compound with these
properties?' This
would seem unlikely, with similar effects reported for other
components
of wine and for other natural products such as curcumin. However,
we
know much more about resveratrol relative to these other compounds."
Here Are The Major Points of the Review:
* Resveratrol exhibits therapeutic potential for cancer chemoprevention
as well as cardioprotection.
"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 for this, still to be rigorously proved in
many organs,
is that low concentrations activate survival mechanisms of
cells while high
concentrations turn on the in-built death signals in
these cells."
* Resveratrol may aid in the prevention of
age-related disorders, such as
neurodegenerative diseases,
inflammation, diabetes, and cardiovascular
disease.
"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 improve cell survival as a mechanism of cardio-
and
neuro-protection, while high doses increase cell death.
"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."
In summary, current scientific research is starting to
explain reports from the
last 200 years that drinking red wine improves
health. Although it is a cliché that
"nature is a treasure trove of
compounds, but studies with resveratrol show that
this is correct. We
need to understand better the vast array of compounds that
exist in
nature, and determine their potential benefits to health."
The
researchers explain "Resveratrol is largely inactivated by the gut or
liver
before it reaches the blood stream, where it exerts its effects -
whatever they
may be - good, bad, or indifferent. Thus, most of the
reseveratrol in imbibed
red wine does not reach the circulation.
Interestingly, absorption via the mucous
membanes in the mouth can
result in up to around 100 times the blood levels,
if done slowly
rather than simply gulping it down."
Journal reference:
1.
Brown et al. The Biological Responses to Resveratrol and Other
Polyphenols
From Alcoholic Beverages. Alcoholism Clinical and
Experimental Research,
2009;
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