Powerful antioxidant compound found naturally in foods like grapes

 

Photo by: Zoran Ozetsky, www.dezignia.com

This post was originally published as  Power Supplement: Resveratrol by Laurel on Health Food blog.

I’ve been hearing more and more about resveratrol over the past couple of years. It’s a powerful antioxidant compound found naturally in foods like grapes, cranberries, blueberries, peanuts, and wine. It’s also found naturally in a Chinese herb called Hu zhang and a Japanese plant called knotweed. According to Natural News, Hu zhang is actually the richest source of resveratrol on the planet!

Recent research found that resveratrol can help the body fight off cancer and heart disease, reduce inflammation, prevent weight gain, expand longevity (anti-aging), boost energy, and even improve athletic endurance. In addition, there’s preliminary research that says resveratrol reduces menopausal symptoms in women. Resveratrol has received support from big names like Dr. Andrew Weil and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Fitness Magazine even featured a lengthy article on resveratrol in their February issue.

Resveratrol supplements are certainly popular these days. The Fitness article said it’s one of the top five supplements sold at Vitamin Shoppe. The Nutrition Business Journal estimates that sales of resveratrol supplements are over $30 million a year. A growing number of people are taking them to improve endurance and extend longevity. The research shows that resveratrol may “activate enzymes that help muscles use oxygen more efficiently.”

Unfortunately, resveratrol research has been mostly contained to laboratories at this point. There’s only been a few human trials (though they had successful results), but I’m sure more are underway.  I’m always a proponent of trying to get the majority of your daily nutrients, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, etc. from whole food sources. But resveratrol supplements could be a powerful addition to your healthy diet.

Fitness Mag recommended supplements with trans-resveratrol in the ingredient list (it’s the naturally-occurring form of the compound). Avoid supplements that say “complex”, “formula”, or “blend” on the label because you could only be getting a small amount of the good stuff. A few quality brands to look out for are: Longevinex, Swanson, and Biotivia. (Fitness Mag, Feb. 2010, p. 114).

UPDATE: This post was featured on FitBuff’s Total Mind and Body Blog Carnival 141 and the Baby Boomers Blog Carnival 27.

New Thinking on Cancer Treatments

This post was originally published as New Thinking on Cancer Treatments by Laurel on Health Food blog.

I am such a believer in the healing power of foods, and I found the following video fascinating. William Li, head of the Angiogenic Foundation, recently spoke for TED.com. Not only does he clearly explain how cancer forms and grows in the body, but he explains a new type of cancer treatment called anti-angiogenic therapy which prevents the growth of blood vessels that feed cancerous tumors.

Dr. Li believes that we must eat more foods that “starve cancer” and prevent it from causing harm to our bodies. Some of these foods are grapes and wine (containing resveratrol), strawberries, soybeans, berries, oranges, turmeric, artichokes, dark chocolate, garlic, olive oil, and kale. Watch the following video to get the full list and to hear Dr. Li’s discussion.

One of my favorite parts is where he shows the graph of how effective foods are at preventing cancer growth, as compared to typical drugs prescribed to treat cancer.

Resveratrol for Heart, Brain, Joints

Earlier this year I wrote about the amazing health benefits in resveratrol, a strong antioxidant found in foods like grapes, peanuts, red wine, and  Japanese knotweed (an herb). Check out that blog post here.

But now there is new research from The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism that concluded resveratrol helps your body fight inflammation and oxidative damage. The study tested the effects of adults who took Polygonum cuspidatum extract (PCE) for 6 weeks against adults who took a placebo. PCE is the Japanese knotweed with a potent amount of resveratrol. This new research supports the claim that resveratrol can help us keep our hearts, brains, and joints healthy. Check out that blog post on Health Food

Eating lots of grapes, berries, and drinking small amounts of red wine are great ways to get a healthy dose of resveratrol, but to get the strong health benefits promoted in studies such as the one above, you might want to consider taking a supplement. Be sure to do your research and choose a high quality brand. Check out that blog post on Health Food

If you want to enjoy a few drinks during the holidays this year, red wine is a great choice and also makes for a nice present.