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Health Products - Resveratrol
Resveratrol is the latest Antioxidant substance to hit the world
wide market. Does it really deserve all the media attention it has attracted?
Resveratrol
is a powerful antioxidant compound that may provide
protection for a myriad of degenerative disorders. Studies
have shown the many benefits of resveratrol for fat loss,
cardiovascular health, reduction of insulin resistance,
alzheimers, anti-carcinogenic, and its anti-inflammatory
effect. It has also been shown to extend life span
in mammals by as much as 15% (10 human years) by increasing
the activity of sirtuins, which prolong the life span of
living organisms.
This plant based anti-oxidant has been deemed the "modern
elixir of youth", mopping up free radicals and preventing
oxidative damage associated with aging.
Some of these activities have been implicated in the
cardiovascular protective effects attributed to resveratrol and
also to red wine.
Prior to 2002, there had been no previous studies describing
the potential effects of resveratrol on lifespan extension.
However in the last 5 years, several researchers have reported
that resveratrol is a potent activator of sirtuin enzymatic
activity, mimics the beneficial effects of caloric restriction,
retards the aging process and increases longevity in a
number of organisms.
In addition, resveratrol seems to be effective in delaying the
onset of a variety of age-related diseases in mammals, such as
rodents. Therefore, it is possible that resveratrol may play a
role in extending life duration and may act as an anti-aging
agent.
Resveratrol in high doses has been shown to extend lifespan in
some studies in invertebrates and to prevent early mortality in
mice fed a high-fat diet. In a US study, researchers examined
the effect of a low dose of dietary resveratrol and a calorie
restricted (CR) diet, on the lifespan of mice. They fed mice
from middle age (14-months) to old age (30-months) either a
control diet, a low dose of resveratrol, or a CR diet and
examined genome-wide transcriptional profiles.
The researchers reported a striking transcriptional overlap of
CR and
resveratrol in heart, skeletal muscle and brain. Both dietary
interventions inhibited gene expression profiles associated
with cardiac and skeletal muscle aging, and prevented
age-related cardiac dysfunction. Dietary resveratrol also
mimicked the effects of CR in insulin mediated glucose uptake
in the muscle.
Gene expression profiling suggested that both CR and
resveratrol might
retard some aspects of aging, through alterations in chromatin
structure and transcription. Resveratrol, at doses that could
be readily achieved in humans, as demonstrated to fulfill the
definition of a dietary compound that mimicked some aspects of
CR and retarded some aging parameters.
Resveratrol also possesses chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic
properties and has been shown to increase lifespan in yeast and
metazoans, including mice. Genetic evidence and in vitro
enzymatic measurements indicate that the deacetylase
Sir2/SIRT1, an enzyme promoting stress resistance and aging, is
the target of resveratrol. Similarly, down-regulation of
insulin-like pathways, of which PI3K (phosphoinositide
3-kinase) is a key mediator, promotes longevity and is an
attractive strategy to fight cancer.
In France, Fröjdö S. et al showed that resveratrol inhibited,
in vitro and in cultured muscle cell lines, class IA PI3K and
its downstream signalling at the same concentration range at
which it activated sirtuins. The observations defined class IA
PI3K as a target of resveratrol that might contribute to the
longevity-promoting and anticancer properties, and identified
resveratrol as a natural class-specific PI3K inhibitor.
In the 1997 study reported in the journal Science, resveratrol
was found to exhibit major inhibitory activity against cancer
initiation, promotion and progression. Specifically, its
antioxidant and anti-mutagenic potency and induction of phase
II drug-metabolizing enzymes were seen as counter to
carcinogenic initiation.
Resveratrol hindered cyclooxygenase and hydroperoxidase and
initiated anti-inflammatory effects, thereby demonstrating
anti-promotion activity. The induction of human promyelocytic
leukemia cell differentiation by resveratrol also thwarted the
progress of carcinogenic activity. In addition, resveratrol
demonstrated significant inhibitory effects in vitro with
carcinogen-induced preneoplastic lesions in mouse mammary
glands, and in vivo with tumorogenesis in the two-stage mouse
skin cancer model. The data suggests that resveratrol, a common
constituent of the human diet, may be used as a potential
cancer chemopreventive agent in humans.
Because of lack of early diagnosis and poor therapeutic
responsiveness, median survival in patients with pancreatic
cancer is less than 6 months, and survival beyond 5 years is
rare. Thus, a novel dimension in chemotherapeutic agents for
pancreatic cancer would be beneficial to control this
metastatic disease. The effect of resveratrol in pancreatic
cancer was investigated at Northwestern University Medical
School in USA. The potential role of resveratrol was evaluated
on pancreatic cancer cell proliferation using two human
pancreatic cancer cell lines, PANC-1 and AsPC-1.
The result showed that resveratrol inhibited proliferation of
both PANC-1 and AsPC-1. Cell number of both cancer cell lines
was also significantly
decreased, following resveratrol treatment.
These findings suggest that resveratrol may have a potent
anti-proliferative effect on human pancreatic cancer with
induction of apoptosis. Hence resveratrol is likely to be
valuable for the management and prevention of human pancreatic
cancer.
In a published article in journal Nutrition, Japanese
researchers found that resveratrol significantly reduced the
tumour volume, tumour weight and metastasis to the lung in mice
bearing highly metastatic Lewis lung carcinoma (LLC) tumours.
In addition, resveratrol inhibited DNA synthesis most strongly
in LLC cells, increased apoptosis in LLC cells, and decreased
the S phase population. Resveratrol inhibited tumour-induced
neovascularization in an in vivo model. Moreover, resveratrol
significantly inhibited the formation of capillary-like tube
formation from human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC),
and the binding of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) to
HUVEC.
The researchers suggest that the anti-tumour and
anti-metastatic activities of resveratrol might be due to the
inhibition of DNA synthesis in LLC cells and the inhibition of
LLC-induced neovascularization and tube formation (angiogensis)
of HUVEC by resveratrol.
Resveratrol has strong antioxidative properties that have been
associated with the protective effects of red wine consumption,
against coronary heart disease, which is commonly known as "the
French paradox". In a Korean study, Jang J.H. and Surh Y.J.
investigated the effects of resveratrol on beta-amyloid-induced
oxidative cell death in cultured rat pheochromocytoma (PC12)
cells. There has been compelling evidence supporting the idea
that beta-amyloid-induced cytotoxicity is mediated through the
generation of reactive oxygen intermediates (ROIs).
PC12 cells treated with beta-amyloid exhibited increased
accumulation of intracellular ROI and underwent apoptotic
death. Beta-amyloid treatment also led to the decreased
mitochondrial membrane potential, the cleavage of
poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase, an increase in the Bax/Bcl-X(L)
ratio, and
activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase.
Resveratrol was found to attenuate cytotoxicity, apoptosis, and
intracellular ROI formation. The polyphenol also thwarted other
effects of the beta-amyloid peptide, which is believed to
account for the plaques that are characteristic of brain tissue
in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
In India, Palsamy P. and Subramanian S. carried out a study to
evaluate the anti-diabetic properties of resveratrol in
streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced experimental diabetes in
rats. The diabetic rats orally treated with resveratrol for 30
days resulted in significant decrease in the levels of blood
glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, blood urea, serum uric acid,
serum creatinine and diminished activities of
pathophysiological enzymes such as aspartate transaminase,
alanine transaminase and alkaline phosphatase.
The anti-hyperglycemic nature of resveratrol is also evidenced
from the improvement in the levels of plasma insulin and
haemoglobin. Further, the results are comparable with
glyclazide, an oral standard anti-diabetic drug.
Thus, these findings suggest that resveratrol may be considered
as an
effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of diabetes
mellitus.
Many studies have shown that resveratrol has anti-inflammatory
properties, and it has been ascribed as having health benefits
that help to prevent cancer and coronary heart disease. A
treatment that combines anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory
actions may be desirable for alleviating many skin conditions
that range in severity.
 In summary exhibits a number of biological activities
in the human body. These include anti-inflammatory,
antioxidant, anti-tumour, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-microbial
and anti-carcinogenic properties. Resveratrol may also mimic
the effects of calorie restriction and retard the aspects of
aging.
Together with grape seed and red wine, resveratrol is a potent
antioxidant boost, which helps to protect the body against free
radical damage that is normally associated with premature aging
and disease. It also supports a healthy cardiovascular and
immune system for optimal wellness. You can find all these
ingredients in this Resveratrol product.
Leanne
James is a Naturopath at Ideal Health. For more information
on Resveratrol visit www.healthy.co.nz
Other references:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resveratrol
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