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San Dimas, CA (July 28, 2012) – Researchers report calorie-restricted diets and red wine resveratrol (rez-vair-ah-trol) pills beneficially alter the same array of genes in both healthy and unhealthy individuals but may only produce measurable physiologic improvement in inflammation, blood pressure, blood sugar, insulin sensitivity and weight among individuals with metabolic problems (diabetes, obesity).

Healthy adults taking resveratrol pills aren’t wasting their money buying resveratrol pills as researchers surmise this favorable activation of genes will produce future health benefits via “metabolic re-programming effects.”  Researchers are calling for long-term studies to validate their theory.

Because long-term calorie restricted diets progressively alter more and more genes (831 in laboratory mice) over a lifetime, it is assumed healthy adults who habitually take resveratrol pills will progressively activate more genes over time and derive unparalleled health benefits similar to those observed among laboratory mice on life-long calorie restricted diets.  Calorie restriction doubles the lifespan and improves the health span of most animal species.

These revelations, published in a special edition of the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences dedicated to resveratrol, may provide insight as to why some early short-term studies in the animal lab as well as with human subjects produced null effects.

Plausible explanation

Researchers say a plausible reason why measured health benefits are exclusively observed among the unhealthy is that measures of metabolic fitness simply cannot be improved upon when they fall into the optimal health range.

That was the very same mistake recently made by researchers at the University of Copenhagen who couldn’t measure any significant health benefits among healthy senior males who had completed an exercise program and were taking resveratrol pills.

“This research suggests resveratrol does not cause blood pressure or blood sugar to drop too far but rather helps these measures to remain in the “optimal” or “desirable range,” says health journalist Bill Sardi who is also managing partner for a red wine pill company.

Sardi says: “It’s possible for resveratrol pills to never produce measurable improvements in health parameters if health numbers were never in the unhealthy range in the first place and remain that way thereafter.”

How long to wait for benefits?

An earlier report, published in Experimental Gerontology in 2008, demonstrated that short-term (12-week) calorie restriction or resveratrol activated about the same number of longevity genes (198 and 225 respectively).  It is assumed life-long consumption of resveratrol pills would, over time, activate the same number of genes (831) as adherence to a long-term calorie restricted diet.

“What these researchers aren’t talking about is that their 2008 research study found a commercially available resveratrol pill (Longevinex®), that combines small natural synergistic molecules in a similar array and dosage range to the red wine solids found in 3-5 glasses of red wine (180-300 milligrams), switched 677 of those 831 longevity genes (81%) in laboratory mice in the same direction as calorie restriction in just 12 weeks, not a lifetime as with calorie restriction,” says Sardi.

Therefore, health and longevity seekers who habitually adhere to a limited calorie diet or take resveratrol pills, or both, need to know it will take a lifetime to achieve a gene activation profile that favors longevity that could be achieved in just weeks taking Longevinex© says Sardi.

Activation of longevity genes may be an easier task to accomplish in humans than in laboratory mice.  While both humans and mice have about the same number of genes (25,000), only about 295 genes are involved in human longevity.

Thousands of people worldwide have tried red wine resveratrol pills since they were first extolled by a Harvard professor in Nature magazine in 2003.  The proposed promise of these pills is as a molecular mimic of a calorie-restricted diet and a substitute for the health benefits achieved with modest consumption of red wine.

For many health seekers, they didn’t feel any better taking resveratrol pills — didn’t notice any beneficial change in markers of health such as inflammation, blood sugar, blood pressure and weight.

“This newly published report suggests resveratrol is favorably re-programming genes regardless of whether resveratrol pills users experience measurable improvement or subjectively feel better,” Sardi adds.

What causes longevity genes to be activated?

“Other anti-aging researchers have attempted to attribute the prolonged lifespan and health span observed among calorie restricted animals to what is called “metabolic reprogramming.”  While their theory may be sound, it only describes what happens metabolically after longevity genes are favorably switched, not what switches longevity genes prior to these measurable effects,” says Sardi.

“The scientific literature strongly points toward any method that limits and controls or removes excess minerals as genetic controllers of aging.  Whether it is food deprivation (calorie restriction), blood-letting, or use of mineral (iron, copper, calcium) chelating (key-lay-ting) molecules such as those found in red wine, these are all roads that lead to extraordinary longevity,” says Sardi.  The Overmineralization Theory of Aging, written by Bill Sardi, is available for online reading.

Right dose protects heart and brain

“Even if resveratrol pill users aren’t able to feel better or measure any benefits, they should know resveratrol is still on guard, protecting their tissues in an unparalleled way,” says Sardi.

This study did not address another desirable biological phenomenon called “preconditioning” that resveratrol activates.  Resveratrol and other similar molecules, when given in the right dosage range, are perceived by the body as mild biological stressors that activate internal antioxidant defenses (glutathione, catalase, heme oxygenase, superoxide dismutase) that in turn reduce the need for oxygen in the brain and heart and limit the area of damage in these two critical organs should blood circulation be interrupted by a stroke or heart attack.

This means healthy resveratrol pill users may not feel any better, but should they experience a stroke or heart attack these are likely to be non-mortal events.  Only one commercial brand of resveratrol has been demonstrated to produce this effect in the laboratory and worked about twice as well as plain resveratrol.  Excessively high dose resveratrol negates these beneficial effects.  ©2013 ResveratrolNews.com