Recently I’ve been looking into the benefits of drinking a glass or two of wine per day. I haven’t been much of a wine drinker, but decided to pick up a bottle of "Cono Sur"- a bottle of merlot rose. I’ve had less than half a glass (with dinner) and I’m already feel a little warmth in my stomach. Is it okay to feel a little tipsy, or is that a sign you’re drinking too much? I’m not talking drunk, just feeling a little loose. Also, how much does a "glass" amount to? My glasses are pretty large, so I filled it considerably less than half way.

And my last question- I’ve read that more expensive wines are better for you, because the fruit is richer therefore more antioxidants and resveratrol. I’m not up for spending 0 on each bottle of wine, so what fruits, ingredients or cheaper names should I look out for that will give me the benefits of a more expensive bottle without breaking the bank?

I have read countless articles online and in health-related magazines that Resveratrol is one of the most potent antioxidants out there (not to mention that it helps you lose weight, improves skin conditions, and countless other benefits), and really want to try one of the supplements available out there. Problem is, there’s so many.

I’m looking for one that actually produces results please!

I have read countless articles online and in health-related magazines that Resveratrol is one of the most potent antioxidants out there (not to mention that it helps you lose weight, improves skin conditions, and countless other benefits), and really want to try one of the supplements available out there. Problem is, there's so many.

I'm looking for one that actually produces results please!

What are the health benefits of resveratrol?  Let’s start with the French Paradox. Resveratrol is found most abundantly in Polygonum Cuspidatum, an Asian plant used for centuries for heart and liver ailments. In the last decade of the twentieth century, the search for a better understanding of the “French Paradox” lead eventually to plethora of scientific  investigation of  red wine polyphenols and most especially of resveratrol. This research lead to the “resveratrol revelations” summed up in such descriptions as:

•    powerful anti-oxidant

best health benefits!

•    anti- proliferative, anti-atherosclerotic
•    anti-clotting
•    senescence preventive
•    central nervous system protective
•    non-toxic chemo-protective
•    anti-cancer cell protective
•    hormone, gene, and enzyme modulator
•    longevity activator

Though there are several plausible explanations, including the moderate use of alcohol itself, it appears that the abundant supply of polyphenols found in red wine are part of the answer to this debate. Polyphenols are a major class of plant nutrients known as phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are chemicals found in plants (phytochemicals), of which there are tens of thousands, and of which some comparatively few appear to be useful in promoting optimal health in human beings. Polyphenols can be further divided into sub-classifications such as anthocyanins and flavonoids, the former of which contains the stillbenes.

Everyone knows that there is a connection between cardiovascular disease and cholesterol. Those with a bit more familiarity appreciate that the type of cholesterol which is most damaging are the low density and very low density fat and proteins. Generally, it is the informed who appreciate that it is only when these bad lipoproteins are oxidized by free radicals that they become the artery clogging menaces for which they are feared. This is why it is thought that the water and fat soluble vitamins, like C and E, appear to help prevent heart disease, as they each protect against certain free radicals that oxidize the bad “fat/proteins” in the blood. Resveratrol’s own marked antioxidant activity is most fortuitously accompanied by:

•    its ability to boost nitric oxide, an endogenous chemical that relaxes arteries
•    its ability to halt proliferation of the cells responsible for narrowing our arteries
•    its ability to inhibit thrombin, and a legion of other pro-clotting conspirators

With regards to the Health Benefits of Resveratrol for our brain, our brains are actually composed most especially of fatty acids. Therefore, our minds as much as our hearts need antioxidant protection. Those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease produce an abnormal protein, or a peptide, the now infamous beta-amyloid. These pitiless peptides produce so much free radical damage that the brain cells are slowly “burned” to death, leading to this universally dreaded dementia.  Resveratrol, most especially when combined with vitamins C and E, provides the much sought for protection from these monstrous mind-munchers. It is even possible that resveratrol will be used medicinally in therapeutic doses post-stroke and central nervous system ischemia and injury. Resveratrol injected into laboratory animals proved better than prednisone as a post traumatic spinal cord injury anti-inflammatory. Researchers speculate that regular supplementation may be neuro-protective as well.

Very recent research strongly suggests that resveratrol is a broad spectrum cancer inhibiting agent. Research reveals that resveratrol:
•    promotes normal cell death
•    kills cancer cells
•    increases vitamin D3’s steroid mediated inhibition of breast cancer
•    increases cancer cells vulnerability to chemo toxic agents
•    inhibits cancer cell metastasis to bone, especially for renal, breast and pancreatic carcinomas
•    inhibits cancers associated with high linoleic fatty acid Western  diets
•    protects healthy cells via its abilities as an antioxidant, and as a modulator of genes, hormones, enzymes and other endogenous cell signaling chemicals

Just recently, scientists at Harvard Medical School and BIOMOL research labs have discovered that other health benefits of resveratrol include its ability to activate a “longevity gene” that increases the life span of yeast cells by 70%. This is not just good news for yeast cells. Up to this point, the only proven method of life extension was calorie restriction. But if calorie restriction is also to be successful for us humans, it means being very skinny, tired, and cold all the time! Calorie restriction in yeasts, worms and flies occurs, at least in part, by activating a gene called sirtuin (SIR). The potential good news is that we have our own version of a “Methuselah gene” and resveratrol supplementation turns on  our SIR as well as calorie restriction, via deacetylation. Another theory of aging holds that we suffocate in the ashes of our own metabolic fires. It is known that as we pass our prime, we lose our ability to perfectly replicate our DNA in every new cell. Slowly, these less than perfect copies accumulate, resulting in what has been termed as “junk DNA”, which debris eventually chokes optimal functioning. Resveratrol antioxidant power has been shown to protect oxidation of both cellular and mitochondrial DNA, thereby helping to minimize these errant copies that kill us.