Resveratrol Study - French Paradox

Explaining the French Paradox Resveratrol Study

In the last few years, scientists and nutritionists in the US have been confused and stunned by the French Paradox. How is it that they can eat whatever they want, and yet in general they have a very low rate of heart disease? The French Paradox resveratrol studies indicate that the intake of red wine in France may be the reason for this.

The French Paradox

The essence of the paradox is this: even though the French eat 3 times more saturated fats as Americans, they are 3 times less likely to die of heart related illness. Scientists have been struggling to discover the reason for this. Is it based in French genetics? This was disproven when French people were fed an American diet – they suffered the same amount of heart attacks as Americans do.

Scientists came to the conclusion that the cause was the amount of Resveratrol in the French diet, which comes from the common use of red wine on a regular basis with meals. The compound is found in other foods, such as grape skins, peanuts and pine nuts. It is an antioxidant that has been proven to slow the aging process and prevent damage to cells more than other antioxidants.

Heart Health

The most notable benefit of the compound is the numerous ways in which it promotes heart health. It acts to thin the blood, eases inflammation of arteries, stops build up in the blood vessels, increases the flow of blood and prevents the solidifying of heart tissue.

Wine

This is the reason there’s been so much hype surrounding this antioxidant and why you should include it in your diet. There are a few problems with achieving this, though. The level of Resveratrol found in wine is irregular – it’s different from bottle to bottle. This is because the compound is damaged by exposure to light and oxygen, so these factors affect the levels in each bottle.

Supplements

Because vineyard workers and farmers don’t tend to worry about maintaining high levels of Resveratrol, supplementation is a better way to get it into your system reliably.

The best types of supplement contain 20-50mg of the nutrient, and should be from 50% of the natural trans type. There is typically only 1mg of this nutrient in 5 oz of red wine – so to get a high level in your system; you would have to drink a lot of wine every day.

The best nutrient sources are usually from natural sources, but sometimes supplementation provides a better solution. If we should take anything away from the French Paradox Resveratrol study, it should be that this nutrient is an essential part of our diet.

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