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Resveratrol continues to edge closer to becoming the safest and most effective alternative to estrogen replacement during menopause.

The idea behind using resveratrol or any phyto (plant) estrogen is for this molecule’s ability to seat itself on estrogen cell receptors (doorways of entry into cells), thus blunting the effect of natural estrogen.

A recent animal study conducted at Michigan State University revealed that slow-release/low-dose estrogen given to laboratory rats generated the superoxide radical, a form of oxygen free radical that can harm tissues and produce mutations in DNA. Estrogen supplementation also produced unfavorable changes such as elevated blood pressure and faster heart rate. The phytoestrogen resveratrol completely reversed all of these adverse effects. Science Daily published a report about resveratrol’s counteraction against estrogen, found here.

Modern medicine may be getting closer to the day when doctors recommend resveratrol supplementation for the 9 million American women who still take estrogen replacement therapy.

When rats had their ovaries removed their blood pressure rose. This suggests reduction or over-supply of estrogen during menopause may potentially be troublesome. The provision of resveratrol to these ovary-absent rats reversed the adverse effects upon blood pressure and improved bone strength as well.

At low concentrations, obtainable via dietary (wine) consumption, resveratrol has been shown to inhibit breast cancer and reverse the breast cancer-promoting effects of omega-6 oils (example: corn oil).

Yet while resveratrol is considered to be an anti-estrogen, it exhibits profound ability to prolong the reproductive lifespan of laboratory rats by helping to maintain ovarian follicles that produce estrogen.

Resveratrol may be particularly helpful to African-American women during and following menopause. More intriguing, breast tumors of African American women have been found to exhibit greater angiogenesis (abnormal sprouting of new blood vessels that feed tumors) while resveratrol is antagonistic to these tumors.

When phytoestrogens were tested (genistein (soy), equol (soy), daidzein (soy), naringenin (grapefruit), coumestrol (soy, Brussels’ sprouts, clover), Pueraria Mirifica (herb from Thailand), resveratrol (grapes, mulberries, wine), all of them stimulated cell growth except resveratrol. © 2011 Bill Sardi, ResveratrolNews.com