Looking for a resveratrol supplement?
Among health enthusiast Resveratrol has been a popular supplement but, does it really live up to all the health claims? Resveratrol has been touted for it anti-aging properties, as well as an anti-inflammatory and some products such as Vivix by the Shaklee Corporation has added other types of polyphenols along with resveratrol and even claim it repairs DNA and even may aid diabetics in reducing their need for medication.
Resveratrol is found in very high concentrations in the skin of red skin grapes, especially the muscadine grape. Resveratrol is said to mimic the positive health benefits that has been found by people who practice calorie restriction. I might add this is difficult for the average American. The anti-aging happens when there is a up regulation of a gene known as SIRT.
Dr. David Sinclair and other Scientist from Harvard have been in the forefront in resveratrol research. In fact Dr. Sinclair in his research discovered that resveratrol made the cells more receptive to insulin. He even formed a company that he sold to Glaxo Smith Kein who was going to make a diabetic drug. Unfortunately it is not nice to fool mother nature. When Sirtus (the co. that Glaxo Smith purchased) wanted to make a synthetic resveratrol drug it backfired on them. See my blog post on this by Dr. Steve Chaney. The synthetic drug version of resveratrol became toxic. Blog link below tells story:
http://www.healthsachoice.com/antiaging/the-resveratrol-drug-is-not-resveratrol/
Sorry about the rabbit trail…the question remains. Is the real resveratrol from mother nature effective in all the claims that has been made?
These scientists from Harvard Medical School have published their results in a journal , Cell Biology. It clearly demonstrated how resveratrol provide metabolic benefits as a result of directly influencing the expression of genes that affect longevity. This research confirms conclusively for the first time that the metabolic benefits of the red wine ingredient disappear in mice that lack the famed longevity gene SIRT1.
Resveratrol directly influences genetic expression to increase lifespan (Does it repair DNA?)
Resveratrol, commonly referred to as a 'dirty molecule', has gained notoriety for its unique ability to influence or alter the genetic expression of the SIRT family of longevity genes. Researchers have discovered that the naturally occurring ingredient has other effects; it influences dozens of other proteins critical to essential metabolic functions, and some evidence had pointed to the importance of another well-known gene (called AMPK) for resveratrol's cellular benefits.
Researchers using a mouse model determined that resveratrol did not affect a group of mice that were genetically bred to 'knock-out' the SIRT gene (mice are commonly used for this type of study as they exhibit similar metabolic traits with humans). This confirmed that the grape-derived compound directly alters longevity expression in a dose dependent manner. Higher concentrations of resveratrol were found to increase the degree of genetic influence exhibited by resveratrol supplementation.
I often get the question if it is okay to take more than 1 serving of Shaklee Vivix…I guess the statement above answers that question with a YES.
Resveratrol lowers systemic inflammation to lower heart disease risk-
Shaklee Corporation proved that with one of their independent clinical studies that was completed at the Universtiy of New York, Buffalo here is the link about the study
Others studies found evidence of the importance of resveratrol to human health is provided by researchers publishing in the American Journal of Cardiology. Scientists found that cardiac patients supplemented for a period of one year with the red nutrient lowered multiple markers of inflammation (including CRP, C-reactive protein) by 26 percent, as well as reduced clotting factors associated with stroke. The researchers for this study used low doses of resveratrol (8 mg for the first six months and 16 mg for the next six months) to achieve these results.
I have tons of stories on results that people have gotten from a mixed polyphenol product called Vivix which contains resveratrol. Among those is my own elderly mother's story of getting off her diabetic meds after using Vivix. Here are some other stories of Vivix users.
Is there a difference in the different resveratrol products on the market. Independent studies such as the one done at the University of Tennessee would say yes there is a difference.
Scientist have come to realize that many times a single nutrient is not as potent as one that uses several nutrients. That is true in the case of resveratrol. Resveratrol is in a class of nutrients called Polyphenols. Scientist at Shaklee Corporation found that out in their research and created a product that uses several polyphenols along with resveratrol. They produced a product called Vivix that has been shown to be 10 X more potent than just the single ingredient, resveratrol.
Here is a picture of the slides from that Study from that study. The little green masses are called mitochondria and they are the little furnaces that create energy in the cell. The more present the better. So I would not call Shaklee Vivix just an anti-aging product but it has implications for many even young athletes that want more energy and stamina. And who doesn’t want more energy and stamina? I guess all of us are candidates.
Dr. Steve Chaney comments on the latest resveratrol clinical study in which the authors concluded...
“Resveratrol supplementation exerts favorable metabolic adaptations that in many aspects mimic the effects of caloric restriction and/or endurance training.”
(Timmers et al., Cell Metabolism, 14: 612-622, 2011).
This study has been widely publicized in places like The Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post and your local newspapers.
Read Dr. Chaney's comments … http://dansbullets.com/
At PubMed, you can find over 4,339 research papers on
Resveratrol and a thousand more on the health and healing powers of polyphenols…
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=resveratrol
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=inflammation%20and%20resveratrol
Bottom line: if you want to give your body the best possible chance to decrease inflammation from the foods you eat, try Vivix