Why All the Controversy About the Red-Wine Supplement?

Twenty healthy volunteers took a 40-milligram (mg) resveratrol extract or a placebo for six weeks, and subsequent blood tests revealed lower levels of inflammatory cytokines in the resveratrol group. Inflammation lies at the root of devastating age-related illnesses such as cancer, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and Alzheimer’s, Dr. Maroon notes.

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All major league clubs are requiring baseline neurocognitive testing for all players and umpires using ImPACT (Immediate Post-Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing). The battery of tests, developed in the early 1990s by Drs. Mark Lovell and Joseph Maroon of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, evaluate things such as brain processing speed, memory and reaction time.

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The prostate gland will generally increase in size in all men as they age. Urination is usually normal for men under 40 years of age.  But after age 40 this enlargement can increase rapidly and symptoms can occur. The incidence of BPH is at least 50 percent for all men at the age of 50. The symptoms of men suffering with this condition are often called LUTS (lower urinary tract symptoms).   These symptoms include decrease flow of urine, incomplete emptying, straining to urine, urgency to urinate, dribbling, and getting up often at night to urinate. 

Due to the location of the urethra, as the prostate enlarges it will begin to restrict flow from the bladder.  Often the disruptive sleep, a feeling of bladder fullness and lifestyle interruptions due to the need to frequently urinate many men will seek out medical attention.  Not all men with LUTS necessarily have BPH.  In about 50% of men with LUTS, symptoms will stabilize and no intervention will generally be required.  But if symptoms worsen procedures including surgery are often needed for the diagnosis of BPH.  In the US alone approximately 300,000 surgical procedures are performed each year for BPH 

Natural Options

There are now several natural treatment options being tried that have shown promise to reduce both the symptoms of LUTS and often delay or eliminate the need for BPH surgery.  These may also include prescription medications as part of an initial treatment plan for men with BPH/LUTS.  The use of natural herbs, in fact, are part of standard treatments plans in Europe and are often adopted in the US. Studies show that over 30% of men with this condition can be significantly helped by just using natural remedies for symptom relief.    Many of these natural herbs work to help reduce cellular inflammation which by many is considered as one of the underlying causes associated with symptomatic BPH.  They can also function to improve nerve communication within the prostate and bladder to improve flow and can reduce growth factors associated with prostate cellular enlargement.

Here is a list of the commonly used natural preparations for LUTS and BPH:

• American Dwarf Palm
• Saw Palmetto Berry
• African Plum
• Pumpkin seed
• Rye Pollen
• Stinging Nettle
• South African Star Grass
• Beta Sitoserol

I have discussed the dietary supplement, resveratrol, in the past.  But to review briefly, resveratrol is found in various concentrations from many different plant sources.  The plant called Japanese Knot weed or polygonum cuspidatum and the skins of red wine grapes are believed to have the most concentrated amounts of resveratrol.  In plants, resveratrol, like other polyphenols, is generally found in the plant skin and acts to protect the plant from infection, excessive UV radiation and aids in general plant defense.  Llike other polyphenols, resveratrol has also been found to have significant anti-mutation, anti-inflammatory, ant-oxidant and DNA protective actions when consumed by animals and humans.

Because of my continued interest in the subject, I am daily bombarded by resveratrol researchers’ latest results. I have selected several of the most promising and exciting results that will give you a window into where this research is headed and the exciting possibilities that lie ahead. 

Human Research:

An Anti-inflammatory and Reactive Oxygen Species Suppressive Effects of an Extract of Polygonum Cuspidatum Containing Resveratrol, by Husam Ghanim, etal.  Just published in September 2010, these researchers at the State University of Buffalo have evaluated 20 adults to determine whether resveratrol can reduce free radicals and inflammation.  Both the formation of free radials and inflammation are linked to aging and diseases such as cancer, heart disease, Alzheimer’s disease and stroke. 

Results demonstrated after 6 weeks the 10-person treatment group had on average a 25% reduction in inflammation markers, such as CRP and TNF-α, and a 30% reduction in free radicals.  Although an admittedly small group, the authors concluded that these results were, “consistent with an antiaging action of resveratrol.”

Effects of resveratrol on cerebral blood flow variables and cognitive performance in humans: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover investigation, by David O Kennedy, et al.  Published in March 2010, this group of researchers from the United Kingdom evaluated 22 human volunteers who were given two different doses of resveratrol.  They found that resveratrol resulted in dose-dependent (that is the higher the dose the greater the response seen) increase in brain blood flow during thinking exercises, which was confirmed by increased oxygen extraction by the brain.  Although improved thinking was not found in the subjects, the authors concluded that vasodilation resulted in increased blood flow which can be brain protective as we age.  Also importantly they tested blood samples of the volunteers which showed both resveratrol and its breakdown products called “metabolites” were present in the blood throughout the testing period.

Resveratrol Improves Insulin Action and Muscle Mitochondrial Function in Overweight Humans, by Sylvia Kehlenbrink, et al. Perhaps the most exciting results were presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in June 2010.  These researchers evaluated 8 obese humans who had impaired insulin sensitivity associated with metabolic syndrome.  Metabolic syndrome is believed to be the major condition which eventually leads to Type II diabetes. The researchers found insulin sensitivity had improved by 40%, which resulted in lower blood sugar levels as well.  These changes were due to resveratrol’s ability to change “skeletal muscle gene expression consistent with increased mitochondrial function”.  This confirms the genetic and epigenetic functions of resveratrol in humans.

Although various doses were used in each of these studies, none of the researchers reported any side effects in their human subjects from taking resveratrol.  This is just a few of the almost daily reports now being published about resveratrol research.  I will continue to report to you some of the more important results as this wave continues to grow.

Reference:

Husam Ghanim, Chang Ling Sia, Sanaa Abuaysheh, Kelly Korzeniewski, Priyanka Patnaik, Anuritha Marumganti, Ajay Chaudhuri, and Paresh Dandona, An Antiinflammatory and Reactive Oxygen Species Suppressive Effects of an Extract of Polygonum Cuspidatum Containing Resveratrol,  J Clin Endocrinol Metab, September 2010, 95(9)

David O Kennedy, Emma L Wightman, Jonathon L Reay, Georg Lietz, Edward J Okello, Anthea Wilde, and Crystal F Haskell,  Effects of resveratrol on cerebral blood flow variables and cognitive performance in humans: a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover investigation, Am J Clin Nutr doi: 10.3945/ajcn.2009 March 31, 2010

SYLVIA KEHLENBRINK, WEIJIE LI, SUDHA KOPPAKA, KEHAO ZHANG, NORICA TOMUTA, JILL CRANDALL, PREETI KISHORE, MEREDITH HAWKINS, Resveratrol Improves Insulin Action and Muscle Mitochondrial Function in Overweight Humans, Bronx, NY,   Presented at the American Diabetes Association meeting in June 2010

In his book, “The Longevity Factor,” Joseph C. Maroon, M.D., renowned neurosurgeon and anti-aging specialist with the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, notes studies showing Resveratrol’s effectiveness in radiation therapy. “Results were positive in two ways,” he writes. “First, Resveratrol appeared to act as a tumor sensitizer, making malignant cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Resveratrol made normal tissue less sensitive to radiation, and this lower sensitivity would help minimize adverse side effects of radiation.”

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