Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

The utility of the red wine molecule resveratrol is gaining traction every day.

Who would have guessed?

• Resveratrol is an insect repellent, so safe, you can eat it.  ✔ Yes.
• Is a promising ingredient in toothpaste as it aids in gum health. ✔ Yes.
• Is a safe and effective herbicide / protects against glyphosate (Roundup) weed killer toxicity and its hidden arsenic). ✔ Yes.
• When loaded into contact lenses retards formation of biofilms. ✔ Yes.
• And even more intriguing, serves to overcome the problem of jet lag via alteration of gut bacteria. ✔ That too?!

Would you like some whipped cream on top of your resveratrol pills too?

That’s not to mention recent studies that reveal:

• Its potential to protect the optic nerve at the back of the eyes (glaucoma).
• Activates CD8 killer T-cells, known to be exhausted in cases of COVID-19 infection.
• Halts brain permeability from capillaries in the brain of children with autism.
• Targets and kills cancer stem cells and therefore could be a breakthrough in overcoming drug resistance.
• Produces brainy lab rats that maintain their mental functions as they age.
• Enhances the effect of zinc in the prostate gland of males.
• Reduces an undesirable blood protein (homocysteine) in the brain
• Protects against food poisoning and resultant diarrhea from Campylobacter jejuni, a bacterium that is usually found in improperly-cooked chicken.
• Recently reported to inhibit inflammatory proteins (metallopeptidases) by 46% in the brain of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
• Its potential use as an inhaled therapy to directly halt COVID-19 viral replication in the lung (really!).
• Researchers urge prompt clinical trials for treatment of COVID-19 as it is powerful when combined with zinc.
• Increases the beneficial bacterial count in the human gut by 10-fold!
• Works better than a common anti-malarial drug.
• Protects against iron-induced cell death during a heart attack.
• Protects against aflatoxins in foods such as rice, figs, walnut (spices).
• Helps to eliminate cancerous stem cells.

Cat owners be aware: resveratrol puts a halt to ubiquitous but imperceptible toxoplasmosis infection from cat feces

An estimated 40 million Americans may have toxoplasmosis, a parasitic disease that is transmitted to humans via uncooked meat or more commonly by cat feces.  A third of the world’s population exhibits evidence they have been exposed to toxoplasmosis in blood tests.  Individuals with competent immunity usually only experience mild symptoms.  But in immune compromised individuals, brain lesions or pneumonia may result. First-line therapy for toxoplasmosis is a toxic drug inducing nausea, vomiting, allergy to sulfa drugs and abnormal liver function.  It is now recognized the most commonly used drug (pyrimethamine) for this condition is incapable of completely clearing this parasite.  At very low concentrations, resveratrol exhibits ability to eradicate this parasite comparable or superior to existing drugs.

All that is added to its ability to avert heart attacks, namely by its blood-thinning properties, and limit damage to the heart and brain during and even after heart attacks and strokes by activating endogenous anti-oxidants prior to these events.

Resveratrol has a mind of its own

Resveratrol fits the description of being amazing.

It simultaneously inhibits the formation of new blood vessels at the back of the eyes that invade an oxygen-starved retina and destroy the visual center (macula) of the eyes, all the while activating new blood vessels in the heart to provide collateral circulation when coronary arteries are clogged with plaque.  How do it know?

It prolongs the life of most life forms (fruit flies, roundworms, rodents) but for some reason has no life-prolonging effect upon mosquitoes (damn them skeeters anyway).  How do it know?

How we got here

Around 2004 a number of people decided to move forward and start taking resveratrol pills based upon news and scientific reports that this red-wine molecule favorably alters the Sirtuin1 survival gene, the same gene activated by a lifespan/healthspan doubling calorie-restricted diet.  Little did they know what they were getting themselves into.

Fast-forward, seventeen-years later researchers are still conducting research on the many applications of this wonder molecule.

What has been learned about resveratrol so far is:

• Low doses work better than mega-doses.
• The addition of other similar polyphenolic molecules like quercetin and fisetin work synergistically (more than additively). In one study these molecules at low dose exhibited no effect, but when combined significantly blocked abnormal cell growth.
• That resveratrol, and more so fisetin, knocks out “zombie” senescent (non-renewing) cells in the body, reducing fragility that commonly occurs in old age, therefore, not just slowing aging, but reversing it.  Users can theoretically become younger biologically, i.e. turn back the clock-hands of biological time.
• It inhibits formation of invasive new blood vessels in back of the eyes of macular degeneration patients.
• It recharges the cellular batteries in human cells by regeneration of energy-producing mitochondria.  (Only about 4% of mitochondria are functional by age 80.)
• Certain carriers (beta cyclodextrin) help to protect resveratrol as it traverses the intricate blood vessels in the body and enhances its absorption and bioavailability.
• That it has not caused a single report of serious adverse reaction to the National Poison Control Centers of America over this period of time, though less pure botanical extracts are known to induce loose stool and mega-doses can result in skin rash, Achilles heel tendonitis, anxiety reactions and flu-like symptoms.

I don’t think it can be said anyone ever regretted taking a resveratrol pill.

However, such all-in-one pills have a negative image as being nothing more than snake oil.  That “snake oil” tag vanished when MIT researchers started a nutraceutical company offering niacin-like and resveratrol molecules rather than as drugs.  Was MIT peddling snake oil?

Resveratrol has a Janus face.  Low-dose resveratrol is an antioxidant whereas mega-dose resveratrol promotes oxidation (pro-oxidant).  Pro-oxidant mega-dose resveratrol would be used therapeutically to selectively kill off cancer cells and pathogenic bacteria without harming healthy cells, but would not be appropriate for daily health.

Self-sustaining

Unlike drugs that get into the water table and contaminate river beds and sewage outlets, this molecule aids plant life and animals.  Helps preserve species.

It could be said resveratrol is self-sustaining, turning what amounts to an unbridled weed that overgrows everywhere it is found, into a cure-all beyond imagination.

Imagine the indirect savings:

• Reduces demand for electricity by lower-wattage light bulbs needed to read, since it prevents cloudy cataracts.  Therefore, less oil is used to generate electricity, and the net carbon imprint is minus.
• Is a natural anti-depressant.  The mood of the whole country could be lifted in trying times like these.  Better than Xanax.
• Resveratrol potentially reduces health care expenses in the billions of dollars range.
• Resveratrol increases productivity of workers as they can now work and derive an income beyond their age of retirement.

Gee, just when are we going to add it to tap water and eliminate the agony of old age for everyone?