Scientists call resveratrol a 'miracle molecule'

Monday, September 24, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: resveratrol, miracle, nutrient

(NaturalNews) A recent study presented at the National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) has found that resveratrol, a nutrient compound found in grape skins, blueberries, and red wine, can improve motor coordination and help prevent falls among the elderly. And in presenting the findings, researchers dubbed resveratrol a "miracle molecule," presumably because of its many other known health benefits.

Conducted by Jane Cavanaugh, an assistant professor of pharmacology at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and her colleague, the study found that laboratory mice given resveratrol as part of their normal diet maintained better movement coordination as they aged compared to other mice. The resveratrol mice also experienced less degradation in their nerve tissues compared to other mice, which helped them effectively thwart many of the negative effects of aging.

Cavanaugh's assistant Erika Allen, a graduate student, fed both young and old mice a diet containing resveratrol for eight weeks. She also compared each mouse's ability, both before and after the resveratrol regimen, to cross a steel mesh balance beam, reportedly documenting and analyzing each stumble or misstep along the way.

By the fourth week, she and Cavanaugh began observing that older mice who had trouble crossing the balance beam at the start of the study were experiencing dramatic improvements as a result of taking resveratrol. These older mice, in fact, were already effectively able to keep up with the younger mice a mere halfway into the study, a remarkable observation.

Additionally, mice taking resveratrol experienced less neural cell death than other mice, indicating that resveratrol somehow blocks the cell death that is normally induced by the neurotransmitter dopamine as a result of stress. Taking resveratrol, in other words, has the potential to block stress-induced aging, as well as protect nerve cells from being damaged or killed.

"We believe that resveratrol is either removing the byproducts of dopamine metabolism, which are harmful to neural cells, or increasing resistance in the cells themselves," said Cavanaugh to Wine Spectator about her findings, noting that the dose of resveratrol needed in humans to potentially achieve similar results would be the equivalent of drinking roughly 700 glasses of red wine a day.

Resveratrol shown to treat, cure diabetes

In another amazing study recently published in the journal Nutrition Research, researchers out of India found that resveratrol also helps fight and even cure type-2 diabetes by normalizing hemoglobin levels in the blood. Compared to diabetics receiving only oral hypoglycemic drugs, diabetics taking 250 milligrams (mg) daily of a specific brand of resveratrol for three months experienced dramatically improved blood sugar levels.

These same trial patients reportedly experienced both lowered blood pressure levels and improved blood cholesterol levels as a result of taking resveratrol, which confirms what numerous other studies in years past have found concerning the nutrient's incredible ability to fight chronic inflammation; improve cognitive function; promote longevity; boost heart health; and target disease-causing free radicals, among other benefits. (https://www.naturalnews.com/resveratrol.html)

"Oral supplementation of resveratrol is thus found to be effective in improving glycemic control and may possibly provide a potential adjuvant for the treatment and management of diabetes," wrote the authors of the Indian study in their review. (http://www.naturalproductsinsider.com)

Sources for this article include:

http://www.winespectator.com/webfeature/show/id/47199