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Red Wine and Resveratrol: Cup of Good Cheer

Its been proved! A glass of red wine not only keeps you in good spirits, it also helps you live a longer, healthier life.

Scientists have come closer than ever to solving the mystery of the French Paradox - why red wine quaffing Mediterraneans live to a handsome age despite their high-fat diets.

The compound largely responsible for this effect is called Resveratrol (pronounced rez-VER-a-trawl).

What is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol is a polyphenol compound that has been shown to protect against cancer, atherosclerosis and other age-related diseases.

It has been identified in more than 70 species of plants, including mulberries and peanuts. Grapes, however are particularly good sources. Resveratrol is highly concentrated in the skin of grapes and is abundant in red wine.

Resveratrol is produced in plants during times of environmental stress such as adverse weather or insect, animal or pathogenic attack. Stress on the plant, such as drought or lack of nitrogen, can raise the content of resveratrol, and this applies to other plants and their polyphenols as well.

Resveratrol is found in grape skins, from which it is extracted during the fermentation process. Fresh grape skin contains about 50 to 100 micrograms of resveratrol per gram, while red wine concentrations range from 1.5 to 3 milligrams per liter.

Resveratrol in Red Wine Extends Lifespan

In a report published online by Nature, lead researcher David A. Sinclair and colleagues reported, scientists found an ingredient in red wine that extended the life span of yeast by up to 80 per cent.

Resveratrol seems to mimic the age-enhancing effects of calorie restriction on the single-celled organism. In this study, the researchers were surprised to find that yeast cells treated with small doses of resveratrol lived for an average of 38 generations, compared to 19 for the untreated yeast. That's the equivalent of a human lifespan of about 200 years!

To match the yeast doses Sinclair claims that humans would need to drink a glass of red wine morning, noon and night. That might certainly be agreeable to some people, especially the French.

Resveratrol boosts levels of an enzyme called Sir2, which is thought to extend lifespan by stabilizing DNA. "It's highly plausible that boosting enzyme activity will slow functional decline in old age," agrees Peter Piper, who studies ageing at University College London.

Resveratrol, Saponins, Flavonoids in Red Wine Protect Against Heart Attack

A glass or two or red wine each day has been shown to lower risk of heart attack. Much of the credit actually goes to the red pigments in grape skins, which contain very powerful antioxidants, or flavonoids.

This antioxidant is quercetin, which has been found to be effective in preventing prostate cancer, relieveing inflammation of the prostate and joints and a host of other benefits. The tannins in red wine also help prevent blood platelet cells from clumping together and triggering a heart attack.

Researchers believe that resveratrol is partially responsible for the cholesterol-lowering effects of red wine. A team of scientists in China also found that resveratrol may be at least partly responsible for improving cardiovascular health.

According to their research, rabbits that drank a little red wine -- with or without alcohol -- while nibbling on a high-cholesterol diet had healthier hearts and veins than fellow lab bunnies that drank only water.

And rabbits that drank water mixed with a resveratrol extract had even better cardiovascular health than the rabbits that drank the red wine, according to the study, which was conducted at Nanjing Medical University.

Researchers at Northwestern University Medical School have found that resveratrol in red wine is a form of estrogen. The estrogenic properties of resveratrol may play a role in the beneficial cardiovascular effects of red wine and the so-called 'French paradox,' said researchers.

Estrogen is known to provide some protection against heart disease, and red wine also appears to. Their specific effects are similar, most notably, increasing high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the "good cholesterol." This effect of red wine may be mediated by resveratrol.

Epidemiologic and clinical studies suggest that high consumption of resveratrol-rich foods may result in reduced cardiovascular disease risk, lowered total cholesterol, and lowered LDL cholesterol. Resveratrol's antioxidant properties may again be the mechanism at work in reducing the oxidation of LDL cholesterol.

Researchers at the university of California, Davis, have identified a new compound in red wine which could be just as important as resveratrol, in fighting cholesterol. The scientists said they have found saponins, the glucose-based plant compounds increasingly under the spotlight for possible health benefits, in wine for the first time.

Saponins are a hot new food ingredient. No one ever thought to look for it in wine, said the researchers. The compounds are believed to come from the waxy skin of grapes, which dissolve into the wine during its fermentation process.

Red wines contain about the same amount of saponin as they do resveratrol. But while resveratrol is thought to block cholesterol oxidation by its antioxidant action, saponins are believed to work by binding to and preventing the absorption of cholesterol.

A group of FFH Program scientists led by Dr. John Pezzuto in the College of Pharmacy at the UIC campus have shown that resveratrol may prevent cancer.

According to a previous study, an enzyme called CYP1B1, which is found in tumor cells, metabolizes resveratrol and converts it into piceatannol, a highly toxic agent that destroys cancer cells.

This process of conversion of resveratrol to piceatannol only seems to occurs within the tumor, and because the created piceatannol is localized, it destroys only cancer cells, without harming healthy tissue.

Some researchers have previously suggested that it would be beneficial to supplement people's diets with resveratrol because of its anticarcinogenic and anti-arteriosclerotic properties.

One study found that constituents in red wine may be able to reverse some of the damage caused by cigarettes. The small study found that red wine, but not its alcohol content, counteracted acute arterial dysfunction left by cigarettes.

The researchers from Alexandra Hospital in Athens, Greece, reported that a dose of two glasses (250 mL) of red wine eradicated the harmful effect of one cigarette.

The study shows that red wine contains substances that are powerful enough to counteract the harmful effect of smoking on arterial function, which could lead to the discovery of substances capable of reversing the harmful effects of smoke.

A new project funded by Europeans aims to evaluate the antioxidant and antiproliferative effects of the metabolites of resveratrol, in the hope that they could help formulate food additives with antioxidant properties, which may help reduce mortality from coronary heart disease and cancer.

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Note: If you suffer from platelet deficiency or blood-clotting difficulties or take blood-thinning drugs like aspirin, you should use resveratrol supplements only under medical supervision.

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References:

Fine Wine Discovery
NutraIngredients-usa.com; 10 September 2003

Wine compounds could counter smoking damage
NutraIngredients-usa.com; 1 September 2003

Red wine prolongs yeast life
NutraIngredients-usa.com; 28 August 2003

Red wine ingredient may extend life
MedServ Medical News; 27 August 2003

Red wine ingredient makes yeast live longer
Nature; 26 August 2003

Small molecule activators of sirtuins extend Saccharamyces cerevisiae lifespan
Howitz, K. T.

Red-Wine Polyphenol May Help Keep the Heart Healthy, Research Finds
Wine Spectator Online; May 23, 2003

Study Sheds New Light on How Red Wine May Help Fight Cancer
Wine Spectator Online; April 15, 2002

Red Wine's Health Benefits May Be Due In Part To "Estrogen" In Grape Skin
ScienceDaily.com; 19 Dec 1997

The red wine phenolics trans-resveratrol and quercetin block human platelet aggregation and eicosanoid synthesis: implications for protection against coronary heart disease.
Pace-Asciak CR, Hahn S, Diamandis EP, Soleas G, Goldberg DM. [Clin Chim Acta. 1995 Mar 31;235(2):207-19]

Jang, M., Cai, L., Udeani, G.O., Slowing, K.V., Thomas, C.F., Beecher, C.W.W., Fong, H.H.S., Farnsworth, N.R., Kinghorn, A.D., Mehta, R.G., Moon, R.C. and Pezzuto, J.M. Science volume 10:218- 221, 1997

Antiplatelet activity of synthetic and natural resveratrol in red wine
Bertelli AA, Giovannini L, Giannessi D, Migliori M, Bernini W, Fregoni M, Bertelli A. [Int J Tissue React. 1995;17(1):1-3.]

Resveratrol - Natural Anti-Aging Elixir
By James South MA