Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

There is no question about it – Big Pharma and its minions of researchers are attempting to develop resveratrol analogs (look-alike molecules) that will garner billions in sales as a resveratrol-like drug.  The objective of the game is to patent a molecule that is alleged to exceed the biological activity of a natural molecule like resveratrol.

Some of the specific objectives are to improve resveratrol’s antioxidant activity, improve its anti-inflammatory properties, elevate its anti-viral activity, produce higher blood serum concentrations and greater stability, and increase its cancer cell-killing effect, etc.  Patents are being filed on improved resveratrol-like molecules.

But at the same time is Big Pharma attempting to disparage and subjugate resveratrol as a third-class molecule?

Recently researchers in Italy analyzed 14 off-the-shelf resveratrol dietary supplements.  Their published study comes to some questionable conclusions.  The primary findings of the study were:

Pharmaceutical-grade resveratrol (pure 100% trans resveratrol produced synthetically rather than extracted from a botanical source) “outperformed most competitors in both radical scavenging and antioxidant efficacy.”

But in some analyses, natural resveratrol was actually superior to synthetic resveratrol (“resveratrol analogs may have important antioxidative activity, but the one with the higher IC50 — measure of antioxidant activity – was presented by the natural compound.”

Resveratrol’s designation as a near-miraculous molecule is not derived from its antioxidant properties (it is in fact a weak antioxidant) but its ability to activate a broad number of genes.

The Food & Drug Administration has, in the past, said it would classify pure synthetically made molecules as “drugs” and botanical sources of lessor purity as “dietary supplements.”

To help prove an alleged superiority of synthetic resveratrol over botanical extractions, researchers tested 14 brands of resveratrol supplements for their ability to inhibit the growth of cancer cells (leukemia cells) in a lab dish.

• These researchers report that synthetic “pure resveratrol,” due to a “different substantial concentration” was found to be superior to botanically-based resveratrol in a lab dish.
• These same researchers reported the absence of any synergistic effect by adding other similar molecules to resveratrol.

This latter finding stands alone in the medical literature.  There are multiple examples of how resveratrol combined with other small molecules (polyphenols) work remarkably better (more than an additive effect).

Examine the following evidence for yourself.

• Resveratrol was found to work synergistically in a matrix of other red wine molecules.
• Resveratrol combined with tea molecules synergistically suppress skin cancer cell growth, breast cancer and growth of colon cancer cells.
• Resveratrol combined with other polyphenols and vitamin D worked synergistically to inhibit weight gain and improve bone strength.

One commercially available multi-ingredient resveratrol dietary supplement has already been demonstrated to:

1. Unlike plain (pure) resveratrol, exhibit no toxic cell-killing effect at high-dose concentration.
2. Restore near-normal gene activity patterns following a heart attack and prevent damage to heart muscle tissue in a superior manner to research-grade resveratrol, as measured by microRNA analysis.
3. Abolished the first sign of blood vessel disease (inability of blood vessels to dilate or widen) twice that of research-grade resveratrol.
4. Inhibit invasive new blood vessels that destroy the visual center of the eye (macula) when other FDA-approved drugs failed.  – Copyright 2013 Resveratrol ews.com