Reservatrol: Miracle Supplement or Rip Off?
Reservatrol, found in red wine, has been shown to potentially lengthen your life. Since the initial research findings, this supplement has become very popular. With prices approaching $80 a bottle, people are scooping up this supplement. The claims are based on lab studies in which worms, fruit flies, fish, and mice did indeed enjoy longer, friskier lives after eating food laced with resveratrol. But, the problem is that there’s no solid proof that ingesting this supplement will extend your life.
In test-tube studies, Reservatrol boosts enzymes called sirtuins, which regulate aging and could help you beat the clock. In animal studies, resveratrol discourages the development of cancers of the colon, breast, intestine, and esophagus. And it protects your heart by discouraging blood clotting, keeping artery walls flexible and squelching inflammation. This sirtuin activation does the same thing as calorie restriction in animal studies: You live the equivalent of 50% longer with the same quality of life.
But despite these studies, the evidence remains unconvincing. The primary reason: the animal studies used huge doses. You’d have to drink 180 to 1,500 bottles of red wine a day to get the levels that help lab mice. Second, no one really knows quite how much it would take to get similar effects in humans. Then there’s safety. Among the concerns: Resveratrol slows how fast your liver breaks down common drugs, including some statins, erectile dysfunction meds, calcium channel blockers, and some immune system suppressants. That could dangerously screw up the doses. And there’s some evidence that resveratrol may activate estrogen receptors on cells, spelling trouble for women with a history of estrogen-sensitive tumors (often breast, ovarian, and uterine).
There are also quality concerns. In one analysis, 3 of 19 brands contained far less than their labels promised. It’s not clear that any of the supplements are made in an oxygen-free environment, which is critical to preserving supplements’ potency (you’d have to buy nitrogen-wrapped, single-pill foil wraps to get the active compound).
So for now, why not drink a rich, red wine or eat a handful of peanuts to get your resveratrol? Some of the highest concentrations are found in the skins of grapes; that’s why dark red wines (pinot noir, cabernet sauvignon, zinfandel) have the highest levels. White wines have the least because skins are removed earlier in the fermentation process.
Don’t drink? Chill and munch half a cup of red grapes (not green) every day. Snack on peanuts and peanut butter. Sprinkle on some blueberries (or cranberries; they have some resveratrol, too). When summer’s fresh berries aren’t available, blend frozen berries into smoothies or throw some into muffin mix.
And don’t focus just on Reservatrol. Other powerful ways to add years to your life include regular exercise (at least 30 minutes a day); relaxing to reduce chronic stress (a major ager that zaps energy, raises blood sugar, and boosts heart disease risk); getting 7 to 8 hours of good sleep every night (burning the candle at both ends encourages diabetes, heart disease, and overeating); and maintaining a healthy waistline.