Resveratrol
It’s in the skin of red grapes, but you can also find it in peanuts, red wine, berries, and other foods and berries.
Benefits of Resveratrol
It’s gained a lot of attention for its reported anti-aging and disease-fighting powers. Researchers have long believed that substances in red wine might have health benefits. Beginning in the 1990s, experts began to focus on resveratrol, an antioxidant compound in red wine. Since then, some animal and lab studies have shown that resveratrol has promising antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer effects.
Early research does suggest it might help protect you against:
Heart disease: It is thought to help reduce inflammation, lower LDL or "bad" cholesterol, and make it more difficult for clots to form which can lead to a heart attack.
Diabetes: Resveratrol helps prevent insulin resistance, a condition in which the body becomes less sensitive to the blood sugar-lowering hormone insulin. The condition can lead to diabetes.
Cognition: Resveratrol has been assessed for a possible effect on cognition. One review reported that supplementation improved recognition and mood.
Cancer: It is shown to have cancer chemopreventive activity in assays representing three major stages of carcinogenesis. It acts as an antioxidant and antimutagen and to induce phase II drug-metabolizing enzymes (anti-initiation activity); it mediated anti-inflammatory effects and inhibited cyclooxygenase and hydroperoxidase functions (antipromotion activity); and it induced human promyelocytic leukemia cell differentiation (antiprogression activity). In addition, it inhibited the development of preneoplastic lesions in carcinogen-treated mouse mammary glands in culture and inhibited tumorigenesis in a mouse skin cancer model.
Researchers believe that resveratrol activates the SIRT1 gene. That gene is believed to protect the body against the effects of obesity and the diseases of aging.