Red wine benefits in a pill
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Most of us love to drink our wine so the thought of packing its health benefits into a pill leaves some of us with feelings of apprehension - could this lead to the end of a good glass of cabernet? Thankfully most likely not. However, there’s an ingredient found in red wine known possibly for protecting against Alzheimer’s, diabetes and heart disease that have scientists intrigued in packaging it into a pill making its availability more convenient. It is called resveratrol.
For years, studies have shown resveratrol’s health healing potential in laboratory research on mice, fruit flies, worms, and yeast. Resveratrol, a polyphenol compound found in certain plants and in red wine, has antioxidant properties protecting the body against the kind of damage linked to increased risk for conditions such as cancer and heart disease.
Red wine is the most commonly known and mentioned dietary substance containing resveratrol – dark chocolate and berries contain it too - but the amounts in wine is too diluted and in too low of concentrations to have much of an impact. In fact, according to a recent study, participants were given a pill containing the equivalent of 1,000 bottles of wine to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s. The study showed that resveratrol could reduce the progression but because the dose was so high it lead to side effects of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Scientists are not giving up hope and are still researching the possibility of trying to capture resveratrol’ health benefits in the form of a pill. A pill form would prevent it from breaking down too quickly in the liver and would provide an individual with resveratrol’s many benefits for possibly preventing certain diseases.
To combat potential side effects of high dose resveratrol in a pill, researchers at the University of New South Wales, near Sydney, are looking to overcome that problem by having resveratrol accompanied with two other components found in red wine formulated into a pill to mimic the drink’s naturally-occurring synergies. These two components are antioxidants and chelating agents which have also been shown to have health benefits. The purpose is to have a source of resveratrol mimicking the synergistic effect found in a glass of red wine but without the negative effects of alcohol. Researchers have come up with a dose containing less than 25 milligrams of resveratrol equivalent to what is found in 13 bottles of wine.
So far, a small trial involving 50 participants taking this new pill form of resveratrol did show an increase in the activity of a substance called NAD+ that plays a key role in maintaining healthy cells. Experiments in mice using this formulation also showed having higher levels of NAD+ did protect nerve cells from damage. The next step is to test it using Alzheimer’s patients.
A biotech company in Jupiter, Florida called Jupiter Orphan Therapeutics Inc. has developed a formulation of synthesized resveratrol believing to protect the molecule from being broken down by the liver. The product is called Jotrol and when experimented on mice, their concentration of resveratrol was 17 higher than those on regular purified resveratrol.
Resveratrol is currently available as a dietary supplement but there is no convincing evidence the supplements work since they are regulated as a food and not as a drug, so clinical trials testing their efficacy are not required.
Since it will be a while before resveratrol is successfully packaged as a pill, for now, a glass of red wine along with dark chocolate and berries is still the best delivery method.