It’s long been a mystery why the French, who eat a diet high in calories and fat, typically live longer and healthier lives than Americans — now we know it may be that they drink so much wine that’s the answer.
This isn’t coincidental. The real answer appears to be a phytoalexin compound called resveratrol. Resveratrol is produced by some plants, mainly in the skins of fruit, to guard against bacteria and infection, and is a powerful antioxidant.
But scientists weren’t entirely sure that the levels of resveratrol the French were getting from their diet was high enough to fully explain the paradox.
But, what almost no one can argue with is that the trials performed in the lab produced nearly uniform benefits as a result of taking resveratrol. The lucky mice who were given resveratrol lived longer, but that’s just one part of it. They also had more energy and more lean muscle than their counterparts.
Hold on, that’s only half the story…
Mice with diabetes who took resveratrol wound up with blood glucose levels that were very close to normal afterwards.
The results were dramatic enough — even if no one claimed they had found a “cure” for diabetes — that increased human testing was warranted.
Of course it couldn’t be long before the internet started to play a part. I’m sure you’re at least aware of the glowing reports that have been describing resveratrol as a true wonder drug that will change the world.
Does it deserve this kind of attention?
It just may. However, for any one particular supplement to live up to the promises being made about resveratrol would be pretty darn hard. A fairytale fountain of youth doesn’t really exist out here in the real world.
But perhaps, just perhaps, resveratrol comes as close as we can hope to get.
So I would think that it’s probably worth looking into, especially considering it only takes a couple minutes. You should be aware that resveratrol isn’t subject to drug purity laws because it’s not technically a drug, but is instead classified as a “nutrional supplement.”
When you buy resveratrol, just as when you buy any supplement, you simply need to put a few safeguards in place to make sure what you’re getting is quality. It takes time and effort to get resveratrol because it all has to be harvested from plants — there’s no way to synthesize it yet. Which means that resveratrol supplements tend to vary in quality, along with their price.
Before you ask, trying to get nutritionally and clinically significant amounts of resveratrol from your food sources is almost impossible - the most concentrated form of resveratrol found in a typical diet is in dark red wine, and you’d have to drink about 3 liters a day of the stuff to get the comparable dose fed to lab mice.
So supplementation is going to have to be the way to go. But to begin with, what should you look for in good resveratrol supplements?
Look for resveratrol supplements that are relatively, if not wholly, free of fillers. Very bright lights and very high temperatures can cause resveratrol supplements to break down, so make sure to store them in the proper conditions.
The very first thing I would suggest you do is check out the resveratrol supplements review sites (the links are below), where you’ll find constantly updated reviews. I really like the videos that show how to get the free samples of resveratrol that a lot of companies are giving away. It’s better than trial and error I think, and will most likely wind up saving you a lot of money.
Just to sum up, whichever resveratrol supplements you choose to take, understand that it’s only a part of a health maintenance system. Excerise, a health diet and some attention to your emotional health are still important.
A pill won’t undo all of the damage we do to our bodies by itself, but it the lab tests are to be believed, it can seriously cut down on the time needed for these changes to have a positive effect.