Resveratrol–Some Explanation Needed

There are about 80,000 known antioxidants at this time, most of which have not been named but are grouped by classes.   You can begin getting acquainted with the antioxidants in your food intake.  Since scientists don’t know every antioxidant in a plant, they developed a measure that indicates the total antioxidant potential.  ORAC (Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity) values are used to identify the antioxidant potency of various foods and food supplements. We each need between 3,800 and 5,500 ORAC units/day to maintain health.  A broad assortment of food is necessary to get that amount.  Supplementation is a sure way to maintain adequate levels.  Fruits are high in water-soluble antioxidants while vegetables are higher in oil-soluble antioxidants.  Both are needed in varying amounts .

The greatest antioxidant out there (at this time) is resveratrol.   Dr. David Sinclair of Harvard Medical School accidently stumbled upon resveratrol while he was searching for a substance that would activate the “sirtuin” gene–the gene which scientists believe actually controls the aging process and which plays a key role in the speed at which your body ages.

To be sure,  resveratrol is no ordinary antioxidant.  Dr. Sinclair went on to make a number of important discoveries about resveratrol between 2003 and 2006.  First of all, resveratrol’s chemical structure gives it the ability to activate the Sirtuin gene.  And then it has the power to reverse the aging process, to literally reset the human biological clock–which has been called the most important breakthrough in health in the last 100 years.

Dr. Sinclair also learned that resveratrol restores the stability of a gene after the gene has been damaged and put under stress; so it brings the gene back into balance.  He also observed that reseveratrol is found and manufactured in all cells of all living creatures–that is, the cells manufacture resveratrol and then they recycle it when they are put under stress.  He also put his finger on its role in effecting one of the genetic factors in aging.

Resveratrol didn’t really come into the health picture until about 1993 when it was shown to reduce plaque in the arteries of people who develop hardening of the arteries.   . .  In five years or less you can expect to see a “pill form” of resveratrol–a drug form–and then the Food and Drug Administraton can step into the picture.  Note:  In 2008 the pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline purchased Dr. Sinclair’s and Dr. Christoph Westphal’s Cambridge-based research company, Sirtris, for three quarters of a  billion dollars. . . . .

If you Google “resveratrol” on the internet, you’ll find many forms, sources, concentrations, and many claims.

Lottie Jenvey can tell you that the product she began in the fall of 2008 contains  four active ingredients:  (1) Muscadine Grape extract, Vitis rotundifolia, the super grape with the extra chromosome, (2) Purple Carrot extract Daucus carota (root), (3) European Elderberry extract (Sambucus nigra), and  (4) trans-Resveratrol (Polygonium cuspidatum) standardized to a minimum of 98% purity; this product has been shown to impact all of the  four aspects of cellular aging.   Three months after beginning this product, she was rewarded with a totally normal lipid panel numbers and was able to quit the use of a cholesterol-lowering drug.  NOTE:  This is not a claim that resveratrol is a cholesterol-lowering substance, but it will  continue to be the subject of many future studies on Marketing by this enthusiast, an octogenarian and a former medical technologist.  She has had a long-time passion for living in harmony with Nature and in helping people on issues to find a longer and healthier life.  With considerable internet exposure, she has developed a keen interest in helping people achieve a better life in this area as well.  She plans to expand her blog http://lottiejenvey.com (Your Long and Healthy Life) with further articles following her passions–A-1 nutrition, the environment, and wildflowers.