Resveratrol Health Benefits #131

One of the more recent topics concerning healthy foods led to us to discussing the health benefits of grapes and wine.  If you remember we talked about the "French Paradox" diet.  Being so rich in fats and high cholesterol content foods yet cardiovascular disease rates remain low for their population, much as those of the Mediterranean diet.   The phytonutrient resveratrol found in grapes has very recently been credited as being a good health phenomenon having to do with each of those diet lifestyles and more.

Resveratrol is natural phenol produced by various plants.  It is used by those  plants as a natural antibiotic to fight pathogenic bacteria and fungus.  The major plant food source of resveratrol are red grapes.  Peanuts, cranberries, blueberries, and other berries are also sources.  Most berries contain less than 10% as much resveratrol as red grapes.   The major content of the resveratrol found in red grapes is in the skin.  There is some debate as to the resveratrol health benefits gained through wine consumption.  The reason being the skin of the grape not being significant in the process of wine production.  The high concentration in the skin of red grapes is not under debate or dispute.  For your information those major brands of grape juice you see on store shelves are not considered significant sources.  For the sake of ease of discussion as we go into the health benefits of resveratrol it will be understood that we will assume those benefits of eating grapes or drinking red wine are one and the same.

There is evidence from some medical studies that resveratrol consumption can slow the aging process.  There are also studies that indicate that regular drinking red wine or eating grapes can lower the risk of dementia.  

I will pause here and explain researching the health benefits of resveratrol is a subject too complicated for me to accurately, without exact detail, completely describe in writing and pass along to you.   However it is not too complicated for you and I to form our own opinions which I have done.  Not long after I wrote an article on reservatrol and grapes I began to see some medical news about compelling evidence that drinking red wine and eating grapes may slow aging and the on coming of Alzheimers disease.  Until doing this research I did not realize Alzheimer's is a form of dementia.  I thought they were two separate diseases.  Obviously there is much debate over the various health benefits associated with resveratrol.  However there is no disputing the healthy facts of the Mediterranean diet and the French Paradox.

There are many resveratrol cardiovascular health benefits that we discussed a while back.  The Mayo Clinic points out there is no clear evidence that red wine is better than any other forms of alcohol for heart health.   Polyphenol antioxidants in red wine may protect the linings of blood vessels in the heart.  Resveratrol is thought to reduce bad HDL cholesterol, prevent blood clots, and prevent damage to blood vessels.

While there are resveratrol supplements available. The Mayo Clinic states that there is no known harm from taking resveratrol supplements, however "most" of the resveratrol in supplements can not be absorbed by your body.


For a heart patient I am practicing what I discuss.  I eat red grapes almost daily and have began to drink a glass of red wine most evenings.