.What is Resveratrol

Resveratrol (3,4´,5-trihydroxystilbene) is a natural phenolic compound found in trans- and cis- forms. There is a lot of excitement (and thus research and web pages) about the trans- form, but little known on the benefits of the cis- form.
Both forms are found in the skins of a number of fruits and plants, where its prime function is to protect against potential invaders like moulds and fungi. The largest concentrations are found in red grape skins with about 10 per cent of these levels also occurring in blueberries and bilberries and even smaller amounts in raspberries and blackberries. Many people have lauded resveratrol as the major health benefit component of red wine. A little understanding is however needed on this subject.

The Red wine ´story´ - Red wine is produced with the wine being made on the grape skins and certain types of wine - particularly from damper areas of the globe can contain up to 3 mgs of resveratrol per litre. However, white wine and champagne are produced having separated off the skins so contain little of this compound. Worse, the use of modern pesticides and fungicides has reduced the need for defensive resveratrol in the grape skin because it seems to be produced in response to the attack. So you get the double negative whammy less resveratrol and a pesticide contaminated end product if you don´t drink an organic wine.
Worse certain wine countries are looking at GM grapes which will be mould resistant. Less and less of this beneficial compound may appear in bottles of mass-produced red wine in the future. Resveratrol is also damaged by light and oxygen, so keeping the red wine on brightly lit supermarket shelves doesnt help either, nor drinking a glass of wine in a restaurant which opened the bottle yesterday!
Sources: Red grapes are certainly not the only good source. For example, blackberries (black raspberries) provide a powerful mix of cancer-inhibiting compounds according to new research from the Ohio State University Cancer Center.
Rats injected with oesophageal cancer inducing factors were divided into two groups. The group eating black raspberries after two weeks had 60 per cent less cancers and the researchers concluded that the berries protected the genome from damage.
Indeed, the researchers described the results as astonishing. Having measured the gene activity in the rats, while 50 per cent altered due to the cancer induction in the normal group, 20 per cent less were altered in the group taking the berries.
Lead researcher Gary Stoner felt that these results must derive from a number of natural compounds in the fruit. But then that is exactly what we keep telling you at CANCERactive: Cancer is a multistep process and to tackle it you need to tackle the various steps and stages. Some natural compounds may work well on one step, while others work on other steps.
Research studies usually use concentrations of the compound above 20 mgs and there is little research on its safety at higher levels. Supplements frequently use resveratrol from plants and herbs other than grape skins notably Polygorum