Ever since 60 minutes and Dr. Oz on Oprah have investigated the health and anti-aging benefits of Resveratrol, there’s been a frenzy of interest in this "miracle drug" and my readers have been sending in literally hundreds of questions about the drug. The most common questions I hear include:
- Are the benefits of Resveratrol real?
- Which is the best source of Resveratrol?
- Are there any side effects of Resveratrol?
I won’t dive into too much detail here (I’ll post more on this topic later), but at a high level, the health benefits (which are being tested) of Resveratrol are:
- Life extension - it has been demonstrated in lab tests (with animals, human tests are still ongoing) that administering Resveratrol does have a reliable ability to increase the life span in various animals.
- Counteracting high fat diets - It has been shown that Resveratrol can combat the negative health effects of a very high fat diet. In mice, there was a 30% effect shown that mice with higher intakes of fatty foods were able to maintain the same levels of cholesterol and insulin / glucose levels as mice on normal diets.
- Cancer prevention - Applying Resveratrol topically on mice who were exposed to a carcinogen on their skin demonstrated a significant benefit in reducing the instances in cancer in these mice.
- Diabetes - Administering Resveratrol to diabetic mice showed a marked increase in their ability to maintain normal levels of blood glucose, plasma insulin, and glycosylated hemoglobin, pointing to a potential benefit in humans with diabetes.
Now it’s important to point out that all of these benefits have yet to be conclusively demonstrated to benefit humans as well. However, there is so much compelling evidence pointing to an array of health benefits - including the good health of the French people who consume much higher levels of Resveratrol through wine - that it’s understandable why everyone is getting on the Resveratrol bandwagon. My opinion is that there will undoubtedly be many significant health benefits proven to be true for humans, so it’s sensible to start taking the supplements now.
Now, for the next question: how can I best get Resveratrol into my diet? Obviously, one way to start is to consume more grape-based products such as wine, raw grapes, and grape juice. However, to get any real benefit, it will likely take a much higher dose via a concentrated supplement. Here are a few of the leading products on the market:
Certified ResV: Form: Gel capsule. Quantity: 100 capsules. Advertised potency: 150mg trans-Resveratrol, measured potency: 150mg trans-Resveratrol. Cost after shipping: $83.29 per bottle (equates to $0.83 per capsule, or $0.006 per mg). Certified ResV is one of the leading products on the market. We ordered their free trial bottle, and received the package within one week. The capsules are medium sized and after measuring the contents in several capsules, we were able to verify the contents of 150mg of trans-Resveratrol. This product is high potency and offers a good value for what you buy. One warning: you should know that once you order from this company you will be enrolled in their auto-ship program where they ship you a new bottle each month, so if you wish to stop receiving the product and getting billed you need to contact the company and cancel your order. Get a free trial bottle of Certified ResV.
Pure ResV Resveratrol: Form: gel capsule. Quantity: 150 capsules. Advertised potency: 100mg trans-Resveratrol, measured potency: 90mg trans-Resveratrol. Cost after shipping: $67.98 per bottle (equates to $0.45 per capsule, or $0.005 per mg). Pure ResV is another leading provider of Resveratrol. The company’s parent also is a leading supplements provider for the elder care market. We ordered their free trial bottle from their site, for which we paid $7.95 in shipping (knowing that we would be billed for subsequent shipments) and the package arrived in about ten days (a little slower than Certified ResV). Each capsule is a small white gel cap. Their claimed dosage is 100mg of trans-Resveratrol, but after measuring eleven pills, we found the average to be closer to 90mg. Not a big difference, but we used the quantity we observed to calculate our averages to determine the relative quantity and value. Pure ResV has a lower potency per pill, but with more pills and a lower price, offers an overall better value. Free trial bottle offer for Pure ResV is here.
Vital RezV: Form: gel capsule. Quantity: 60 capsules. Advertised potency: 200mg trans-Resveratrol, measured potency: 200mg trans-Resveratrol. Cost after shipping: $78.20 per bottle (equates to $1.30 per capsule, or $0.006 per mg). Vital RezV offers the highest potency per capsule at 200mg of trans-Resveratrol, and from what we measured, the actual amount is approximately correct. After ordering the free trial bottle, it arrived within 3 days, so they seem to have a quick turnaround for shipping. This product appears to be of high quality, high potency, and absorbs easily. If you prefer to take fewer pills or plan only to ingest the supplement once per day (rather than twice as is needed with Pure ResV), this might be the best option for you. Order page for Vital RezV.
Warnings / products to avoid:
Ultra Resveratrol: This product has received a lot of hype, and the result has been a host of fake sites claiming to sell this product but actually offering low quality alternatives. While the original vendor is still a valid supplier of Resveratrol, with the high risk of landing with an impersonating site, we’d have to recommend shying away from Ultra Resveratrol, until they somehow manage to get the situation under control. This is unfortunate since the the real product is a high potency, high quality source of Resveratrol. The most similar safe alternative right now would be Vital RezV.
We hope this makes the Resveratrol shopping experience a bit more sensible for you. Please, as with any health purchase, be careful and do your research! We’d love to hear your comments and feedback on these and other Resveratrol supplements - leave a comment here and let us know your experiences!
