Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

The problem is quite apparent – women over age 65 proportionally account for 63% of dementia sufferers worldwide and health authorities anticipate this difference will become more pronounced as more women live into their tenth decade of life.  This problem is believed to emanate from a reduced ability of arteries in the brain to dilate (widen) under conditions of mental demand or emotional or physical stress.

The age-related decline in estrogen production from the ovaries is identified as a chief reason for these aging changes in mental function in women.

So it should be no surprise to learn that a modest dose of the red wine molecule resveratrol (75 mg twice a day or 150 mg/day), an estrogen-like molecule, is now reported to have improved mental performance (verbal memory and overall mental performance) among women age 45-85 years of age who were judged to have normal mental function at the beginning of a 14-week study.  [Nutrients January 2017]

The health benefits of resveratrol don’t stop there.  Another recently published study reveals a resveratrol/quercetin-based supplement improves sexual function and helps to relieve “sexual distress” in women entering menopause.  [Journal Endocrinological Investigation Jan 2017]

Cerebral arteries among women taking resveratrol supplements were more responsive to biological stress as resveratrol facilitated an improvement in blood flow under induced biological stress (increased carbon dioxide/ hypercapnia).  This is of importance as just a 10% reduction in responsiveness of arteries to stress (diminished ability of arteries to dilate) is equivalent to a 64% increase in susceptibility to stroke.

Of note, both resveratrol and placebo groups exhibited improved mental performance.  This suggests either the increased attention given to women or a learning effect was partially responsible for the positive outcomes.

Nonetheless, resveratrol is believed to have helped women allay some of the ravages of aging that plague females in the latter years of their lives.

Resveratrol supplementation also significantly reduced anxiety, a common problem among post-menopausal females.

All results were compared against an inactive placebo pill to eliminate a placebo effect.

None of the women in this trial failed to comply with the 14-week pill-taking regimen, which suggests resveratrol is largely free of side effects.

Resveratrol is a very weak estrogen (1/7000^th the strength of estrogen) but exerts many of the same biological actions as estrogen.  [Nutrition Metabolism Cardiovascular Disease Nov 2013]

In mice whose ovaries were surgically removed to induce menopause, resveratrol improved heart pumping and reduced the size of an experimentally-induced heart attack. [American Journal Translational Research June 15, 2016]

In the animal laboratory resveratrol allayed the loss of bone (osteoporosis) and a rise in blood pressure that commonly occurs in postmenopausal females. [Journal Medicinal Food 2005; Journal Nutrition Science Vitaminology April 2000]

With the onset of menopause women develop a different kind of arterial disease than males with the deposition of calcium lost from their bones into their arteries.  Resveratrol has been demonstrated to inhibit arterial calcification in female laboratory animals. [Journal Medicinal Food Feb 2014; Cell Metabolism July 1, 2014]  Resveratrol counters the stiffening of arteries (calcification) induced by a common anti-diabetic drug. [Journal Molecular Cellular Cardiology Nov 2011]

Resveratrol is considered the safest of all phyto (plant) estrogens.  All phytoestrogens stimulate weak but significant cell growth except resveratrol.  [ResveratrolNews.com; Journal Steroid Biochemistry Molecular Biology April 2005]

It is unconscionable that women who are now living far longer are not universally given estrogen replacement.  Not only do women’s bodies crumple as they lose stature as they age but they deteriorate mentally.   Resveratrol may serve as a safe over the counter estrogen replacement, which when given in modest doses (under 300 milligrams/day) may help overcome many of the ravages of aging in women.  ©2017 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com