The cis-isomer of resveratrol

It’s been know for quite some time that red wine is linked to various health benefits. As a matter fact, Wine’s biggest health claim is that it has the ability to aid in the prevention of heart attacks, the largest cause of death in developed countries. The World Health Organization, the American Heart Association, the United States government have highlighted scientific findings that associate cardiovascular benefits with moderate consumption consumption of wine. What many people don’t know is that wine also contains Resveratrol that may prolong life.

Resveratrol [C₁₄H₁₂O₃] is a polyphenolic phytoalexin that is found in the skin of red grapes and is a component of red wine.

Resveratrol is produced naturally when the plant is attacked by bacteria or fungi. Resveratrol benefits include blood-sugar lowering, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer. Resveratrol prevents the formation of free radicals that can damage the cells in your body and has the ability to minimize cancer by reducing DNA mutations.

Respected studies and research reports have associated Resveratrols with increased life expectancy. This is because Resveratrol lowers the risk for developing causes of death.

CBS 60 Minutes Reports this as follows:

Resveratrol has been reported in the Nature (2003 Sep 11;425(6954):191-6. Epub 2003 Aug 24) to significantly extend the lifespan of the yeast.
“We [Howitz KT, Bitterman KJ, Cohen HY, Lamming DW, Lavu S, Wood JG, Zipkin RE, Chung P, Kisielewski A, Zhang LL, Scherer B, Sinclair DA.] show that the potent activator resveratrol, a polyphenol found in red wine, lowers the Michaelis constant of SIRT1 for both the acetylated substrate and NAD(+), and increases cell survival by stimulating SIRT1-dependent deacetylation of p53. In yeast, resveratrol mimics calorie restriction by stimulating Sir2, increasing DNA stability and extending lifespan by 70%.”

Resveratrol studies reported in Nature 430, 686-689 (5 August 2004) conducted by Jason G. Wood, Blanka Rogina, Siva Lavu, Konrad Howitz, Stephen L. Helfand, Marc Tatar and David Sinclair show that it prolongs the lifespan of worm and fruit fly.
“Here we show that resveratrol and other STACs activate sirtuins from Caenorhabditis elegans and Drosophila melanogaster, and extend the lifespan of these animals without reducing fecundity.”

Studies conducted by Italian scientists Dario R. Valenzano, Eva Terzibasi, Tyrone Genade, Antonino Cattaneo, Luciano Domenici and Alessandro Cellerino as reported in Current Biology 16, 296–300, February 7, 2006 show Resveratrol increased the median lifespan of Nothobranchius furzen (short-lived vertebrate fish) by 56%!
“Resveratrol was added to the food starting in early adulthood and caused a dose-dependent increase of median and maximum lifespan. In addition, resveratrol delays the age-dependent decay of locomotor activity and cognitive performances and reduces the expression of neurofibrillary degeneration in the brain. These results demonstrate that food supplementation with resveratrol prolongs lifespan and retards the expression of age-dependent traits in a short-lived vertebrate.”

Now, before you run to your local supplements store for Resveratrol, pay special attention to the following:
David Sinclair, assistant professor at the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School, claims that most Resveratrol supplements are biologically inactive since “they don’t duplicate the airless environment like a bottle of wine“.