Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

Most people have the results of a prior blood test that shows numbers for total cholesterol, good (HDL) and bad (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides. Sometimes the blood test includes lipoprotein(a), that has been called a “mysterious factor” in heart disease. Lipoprotein(a) is perplexing to both doctors and patients alike.

Patients with elevated lipoprotein(a) levels, which is a fatty protein produced in the liver that enters the blood circulation and increases risk for a heart attack, primarily affects 1 in 250 individuals worldwide with a family history. About 60 million Americans have elevated Lp(a) levels. Roughly 1 in 7 heart attacks are associated with high Lp(a) levels. Concentrations of Lp(a) vary by 1000-fold between individuals.

Researchers in Denmark measure the increased relative risk for a heart attack based upon the Lp(a) level. [Circulation 2008 Jan 15; 117(2):176-84]

Lp(a) level	Relative risk for heart attack
5-29 mg/dL	1.1
30-84 mg/dL	1.7
85-119 mg/dL	2.6
120+ mg/dL	3.6 times greater risk

Officially, there are no approved drugs for elevated Lp(a) levels

Approximately 20% of the global population (1.4 billion people) have elevated levels of Lp(a) associated with higher cardiovascular risk. Data reveals elevated Lp(a) increases the risk for a heart attack by 20% over a 10-year period in females and 35% in male smokers over age 60 with high blood pressure.

In another recent study, with the assumption of causality, an 80% reduction in Lp(a) would predictably reduce risk of coronary heart disease by 24.4%. But that risk reduction would be over a period of years. Furthermore, that is a relative number, not a hard number, less than a 1% decrease in heart disease in hard numbers. Like all drugs, thousands must take the drug for very few to benefit.

Lipoprotein(a): a “sticky bandage”

Lipoprotein(a) is a “sticky bandage” that induces blood clots via attraction of blood platelets that can then impair circulation to the heart and induce a heart attack. Lp(a) causes blood platelets stick to the arterial wall.

It is no secret that the natural decline in estrogen production in women, beginning around age 54, results in a rise in lipoprotein(a). [Journal American College Cardiology July 2008; Journal American Medical Assn. April 12, 2000] Menopause is when women begin to lose their ability to control iron via monthly blood loss.

Resveratrol superior to other Lp(a) reducers

The best known agents that lower Lp(a), aspirin, niacin, L-carnitine, apple pectin, vitamin D, lower Lp(a) by 20-35%.

Then there is resveratrol, the red wine molecule. In the animal lab, resveratrol lowered lipoprotein(a) levels by 60%. [Biochemical & Biophysical Research Communications 367: 190-94, 2008]. And resveratrol is not just for hamsters. Reduction of Lp(a) has also been demonstrated in a human trial with resveratrol.

Explains French Paradox

In 1992 it was Dr. Serge Renaud in France who coined the term “French Paradox” to explain why the wine-drinking French had such a low mortality rate from coronary artery disease (90 per 100,000) vs. North America (200 per 100,000), yet had relatively high cholesterol numbers. Dr. Renaud went on to explain that a 21-country study revealed wine demonstrably reduces mortality from heart disease (-30-40%), superior to hard alcohol, vegetables or dairy products. Dr. Renaud convincingly noted that wine did not lower coronary artery disease rates by reduction of cholesterol, but by the inhibition of blood platelets that can block coronary arteries that supply oxygen to the heart.

Now we know that the platelet inhibition was accomplished by lowering lipoprotein(a) levels (sticky platelet syndrome). The “mysterious” blood factor, lipoprotein(a) is the culprit. For the French, the antidote is their beloved, aged red wine, a couple of glasses a day. For those who wish to avoid inebriation and liver problems, a red wine resveratrol pill is a desirable option.

Because of the multiple health benefits attributed to resveratrol, it is desirable over aspirin. Resveratrol can be used to inhibit blood clots in coronary arteries in cases of aspirin resistance. Resveratrol not only inhibits over-clotting of blood, but it dilates (widens) blood vessels via nitric oxide gas to facilitate circulation and normalize blood pressure.

Of anecdotal interest, resveratrol can even be used to preserve blood platelets that are being stored for transfusion.