Resveratrol – the key to successful weight loss?

For anyone who is trying to lose weight, or who has tried to diet in the past, success is often elusive. The trouble is that while you might shed the weight, it is difficult to keep the weight off after the diet period ends. However, research is showing that the red wine compound Resveratrol may be a key ingredient to successful weight loss and keeping the weight off afterwards.

Calorie restriction

The classic method of dieting is reducing the amount of calories in the diet to levels below the daily requirement for the body. The body is, in effect, burning more energy than it takes in. The response to lower levels of glucose in the blood at any given time stimulates the conversion of fats and proteins into glucose for the muscles and brain to utilise.

This is also why it is recommended that you increase the amount of daily exercise you get. By increasing the number of calories you burn off in a day through exercise, you are speeding up the weight loss by stimulating your body to convert more fat into usable energy. However, extended calorie restriction diets are difficult to maintain in the long term.

Sugars, weight gain and the French Paradox

The link between excess sugar in the diet and weight gain are well documented. If we consume more sugar or glucose than our bodies need, the excess glucose is stored for later use by the body, and most often this storage is in the fat cells. The same goes for fat consumption. Fat is a high energy substance, and beneficial to the body in some forms. However, like sugars, if our diet contains too much fat the body reacts to store this excess energy for later use.

So what about the phenomenon called 'French Paradox'? Many researchers recognise that the French diet is often high in calories, especially in fats, yet France does not seem to have the rates of obesity and diet-related health issues as other Western countries.
The reason for the paradox may be because of the consumption of red wine in France and other Mediterranean countries. Scientists studying the effects of the polyphenol chemical compound Resveratrol found in red grape wine have shown that Resveratrol helps to prevent fat storage, and found that it actually inhibits pre-fat cells from changing into mature fat cells. Resveratrol also acts to lower the amount of sugars in the blood, preventing it from changing into fat. Interestingly, studies have also shown that Resveratrol can increase the levels of 'good' cholesterol in the blood.

Holding the keys to healthy living

Adding the health benefits of Resveratrol to a healthy diet and regular exercise may be the key recipe for successful weight loss. While the research continues into other health benefits of Resveratrol, users of supplements like Biotivia's Resveratrol report increased energy levels, a drop in blood pressure or a drop in weight. Losing weight can lead to other health benefits including decreased risk of heart disease, diabetes and other weight-related problems.

Boosting your brain power with Resveratrol

There has been a lot of talk in the news lately about boosting your brain power with mental exercises or 'brain training'. And while results show training your brain does little to actually improve your cognitive functions beyond learned repetition, new research is showing that a simple phytochemical compound called Resveratrol may boost your brain power.

Resveratrol is found in red grape skins and flesh. Its presence in red wine is thought to contribute to red wine's reputed heart and health promoting properties. It can also be found other dark fruits like blueberries, raspberries and pomegranate. Studies into Resveratrol's health promoting benefits show it acts in much the same way as calorie-restricted diets to promote longevity and improve overall health.

Better brains with fewer calories

Over 70 years ago, studies were conducted on mice that showed that a calorie-restricted diet extended the life spans of the mice, sometimes by up to 50%. The researchers also showed that mice on these calorie-restricted diets showed improved motor skills, memory, cognition and reaction times when compared with mice of a similar elderly age.

Since then, many studies have supported this research showing that in mammals, calorie restriction improves life spans and reduces age-related disease, effectively increasing life quality as well as length.

Resveratrol mimics calorie-restricted diet's effects

Recent studies on Resveratrol have shown that it mimics the longevity and health-promoting effects of calorie-restricted diets. Specifically, Resveratrol has been shown to act on regions of the brain that affect diabetes, and it seems to protect the nerves themselves from damage and oxidative stress due to aging. Because most humans cannot maintain a calorie-restricted diet as in the other mammalian studies, Resveratrol is receiving a lot of attention. New studies are being conducted now on humans to prove its effectiveness in prolonging quality of life as well as its effects on brain power.

One study conducted at Northumbria University revealed that adults who had taken Resveratrol did better at mental maths tests than the control group.

Blood flow and protecting nerve cells

Where Resveratrol seems to benefit the brain is by improving blood vessel functions. Resveratrol lowered cholesterol levels, reduced blood vessel hardening and lessened oxidative stress within the blood vessels. On their own, each of these effects has been shown to produce affect brain function. Taken together, the power of Resveratrol to boost brain power seems evident.

Another area where Resveratrol seems to protect our brains is in its ability to protect nerves at a cellular level, preventing damage to DNA, and its action in reducing inflammation in tissues.

Though Resveratrol comes from many plants, much of the discussion of Resveratrol has focussed on its presence in red wine. While we don't deny that it is present in red wines, we would caution you on its use as a brain booster – alcohol, of course, tends to have the opposite effect on brain power than we might like. So supplements like Resveratrol seem like the right route to boosting your brain power.

Resveratrol – the new kid on the science block

Science has dedicated itself to discovering and understanding the processes of our bodies in order to treat and prevent disease and illness. Discoveries along the way have led to a massive increase in both the life span of humans and in our ability to heal or prevent many diseases which troubled our ancestors. Resveratrol is a relatively new addition to the body of scientific work on human wellness and disease, and it is showing itself to be this generation's big discovery.

Resveratrol is part of a family of compounds called phytochemicals found in many plants, with red wine grapes having relatively high concentrations of Resveratrol present in the flesh and skins. These phytochemicals, or phytoalexins, protect the plants from bacteria and fungi. Early research on Resveratrol showed a similar effect in animals by reducing or even reversing metabolic problems in the animal test subjects. But not until recently has science been able to explain what effect Resveratrol has on the molecular and biological pathways in the cells of the body.

Sirtuins

Decades ago, research on animals showed that mice given a calorie-restricted diet of up to 50% of normal calories lived longer than their normally fed contemporaries. The calorie-restricted mice also had stronger bones and showed signs of better motor functioning. But most people find it impossible to maintain a calorie-restricted diet, so the benefits to humans remained elusive.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, researchers discovered that a family of genes called sirtuins might be responsible for the longevity and health of those calorie-restricted mice. Sirtuins are present in every cell of our bodies and seem to monitor the energy levels within the cell. Their action on longevity and cellular health is thought to be their action in triggering enzymes within the cell that help repair and prevent damage to the cell during times of famine.

Resveratrol switches on sirtuins

After discovering the sirtuin family, researchers then went on to find out which chemical compounds could trigger sirtuins to do their work. New findings show that Resveratrol switches on sirtuin genes in cells in much the same way as the calorie-restricted diet does. This initial finding stimulated billions of pounds worth of research into Resveratrol and has produced findings showing Resveratrol helping to reverse or reduce inflammation, reduce blood sugar levels, prevent fat from forming and protecting heart and nerve tissue from damage and degradation.

Resveratrol's presence in red wine may explain why Mediterranean diets seem to paradoxically contain more fats, yet show lower levels of cardiac and age-related metabolic diseases than in other Western diets. The race is on to provide more evidence of Resveratrol's role in preventing and reversing age-associated disease like diabetes, some forms of cancer and neurological diseases like Alzheimer's.

Research on Resveratrol continues

Because it is such a new area of cellular research, studies on the pathways that promote anti-aging in humans and the compounds that stimulate cellular protection are continuing. One thing is clear about the new kid on the science block – Resveratrol's popularity is gaining ground and its publicity is helping to fund a whole new series of studies into its role in helping prolong healthy living.