Resveratrol Health Benefits l Resveratrol Studies l Antioxidant Benefits of Resveratrol Sources

In a 2001 report made by researchers at the Department of Medicinal Chemistry and Pharmacognosy, College of Pharmacy, and the University of Illinois Cancer Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago K.P.L. Bhat, J.W. Kosmeder II, and J.M. Pezzuto endeavored to summarize the health benefits of the naturally occurring polyphenol resveratrol.

Resveratrol naturally occurs in various plant-derived foods and beverages, such as grapes, peanuts, white and red wine, raw cranberry juice, and so forth. Its health benefits have been observed in the form of cancer prevention and prevention of heart disease among other things.

Antioxidant Benefits of Resveratrol

Resveratrol is a known antioxidant and its ability to promote nitric oxide production is well documented. It has also been shown to increase high-density lipoprotein cholesterol which makes it highly beneficial as a cardiopreventative agent due to the fact that it protects against plaque build up in the arteries.

The estrogenic effect of resveratrol supplements make it a valuable instrument in the fight against breast cancer as it transfects breast cancer cells.

Finally, resveratrol’s anti-inflammatory properties make it useful as a neuroprotective agent. In such cases, resveratrol is able to assist the body in maintaining brain cell health.

Likely, researchers have only scratched the surface of the many health benefits resveratrol has. Additional studies will allow researchers to not only identify the exact mechanisms by which resveratrol positively impacts so many diseases, but also identify additional health issues that can be helped by resveratrol.

Research conducted at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by D.L. Evers, X. Wang, S.M. Huong, D.Y. Huang, and E.S. Huang on the effects of resveratrol on cytomegalovirus (a variety of herpes) revealed some startling results.

Testing Resveratrol as a Herpes Treatment

In this 2004 study, for the first time, red wine resveratrol was tested to determine its effect on cytomegalovirus.

To accomplish this the researchers tested an IC50 strain of cytomegalovirus to determine whether resveratrol could arrest cell development in the virus in the same way it arrests cell development in cancers.

Resveratrol prevented the appearance of viral proteins. In doing so, it reduced DNA replication of the cytomegalovirus to undetectable levels. The researchers hypothesize that resveratrol blocked epidermal growth in the cells and ceased the continued development of the cells.

What this means for the general population is that resveratrol supplements are an effective inhibitor in the development of the Herpes virus, which can be found in anywhere from 50% to 85% of the human population by the time they are 40 years of age.

Doctors J.J. Docherty, M.M. Fu, B.S. Stiffler, R.J. Limperos, C.M. Pokabla and A.L. DeLucia from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Northeastern Ohio University’s College of Medicine released a study in 1999 that found resveratrol - an ingredient in red wine - restricts the replication of the herpes simplex virus.

The naturally occurring plant compound, resveratrol, was found to restrict the herpes simplex virus, types 1 and 2, from replicating its genetic material during human cell reproduction.

Red wine resveratrol targeted an early event in the virus replication cycle that inhibited the virus from copying itself into new, healthy cells.

Resveratrol also delayed a stage of the cell cycle, at interphase, which restricted the reactivation of the virus from latently infected cells and a major viral regulator protein.

The research suggests that resveratrol dosage plays an important antiviral role in stopping or restricting an early event in the viral cell replication cycle. This will inhibit the virus from being copied into the genetic material of new cells.