NEW FOR 2008 - RESVERT

We have all heard of the paradox whereby French people suffer less from coronary heart and peripheral vascular illnesses than people in more Northerly European  countries yet eat a diet rich in fats.

The reason for this enigma is now emerging and the answer lies in red wine and particularly a polyphenol found in red wine called Resveratrol. The French diet includes reasonable amounts of red wine and new research has found that resveratrol which is found in the skins of red grapes protects against coronary and peripheral vascular illnesses.

The benefits of resveratrol are not just restricted to CHD, the compound is also the subject to research into its effects on certain cancers. Researchers at the University of Alabama in Birmingham USA fed mice resveratrol over a period of months and their findings were significant.

In the study resveratrol-fed mice showed an 87% reduction in their risk of developing prostate tumors that contained the worst kind of cancer-staging diagnosis. The mice that proved to have the highest cancer-protection effect earned it after seven months of consuming resveratrol in a powdered formula mixed with their food.

Other mice in the study, those fed resveratrol but still developed a less-serious form of prostate cancer, were 48% more likely to have their tumor growth halted or slowed when compared to mice who did not consume the compound, the UAB research team said.

And the good news does not stop there. Other researchers have found that resveratrol may actually help in prolonging life-span.

Investigators at Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging, have found that the small molecule resveratrol has been shown to offer survival benefits in a mammal. The researchers fed resveratrol to obese mice and found that their life spans were increased. Resveratrol seemed to reverse changes in gene expression patterns found in mice on high calorie diets - some of which are associated with diabetes, heart disease, and other significant diseases related to obesity

Additional research has pointed to the possible usefulness of resveratrol in weight control, as an anti-fungal agent and in Alzheimer's disease.

Medifort now have Resveratrol available in bottles of 60 capsules.