I had someone the other day ask me about resveratrol and proceeded to tell me how she had bought a skin care product with it as an added ingredient and how it was supposed to be miraculous for the skin. And then asked me why Nature’s Skin and Body Food didn’t use it in any of its products.

So I thought I would give you my opinion on resveratrol. I have known about and studied this ingredient since the early 1990’s. We don’t use it because it doesn’t really do much of anything on its own. The value of eating grapes and drinking a little wine is different because you’re getting the whole spectrum of nutrients from the grape. But when you start isolating compounds out of natural substances, like taking a child from its family disharmony usually results. When we do our proprietary herbal extractions we extract the entire elements not just one. Let’s take a look at the science.

First off the study, supplement and skin care companies are touting is a 2006 study published in Nature Magazine where mice lived longer on a resveratrol-fed diet, but these mice were fed a 60% fat-calorie diet which is not possible for humans. (Most humans consume about 35% fat calories). The fat-engorged mice did live longer on resveratrol, but this experiment is not comparable to humans eating a normal diet.

[Resveratrol improves health and survival of mice on a high-calorie diet. Nature 2006 Nov 16; 444(7117):337-42]

Also the amount of resveratrol fed to the rats comes out to about 2 cases of wine per day. I’ll repeat that, two cases of wine per day. So if you are going to extract just the resveratrol from enough grapes to make an effective dose for a 30 day supply of cream and it takes about 2.5lbs of grapes to make a bottle of wine. For an oral ingestion based on the study we would need 3600lbs of grapes. But since we are just dealing with the skin lets reduce that to a case per day which would be 1800lbs of grapes a month for our cream. So let’s get a little skimpy and only use a tenth of that which would be 180lbs of grapes. Still a little pricey especially if we use organic grapes. That little tube of cream with resveratrol you see advertised is pretty much worthless.

Resveratrol will not do much of anything on improving your skin by itself. To be effective as a natural ingredient it needs the full complement of the other elements in the grape skin and pulp. And you would need lots of it.

Within the last couple of years the science surrounding this molecule has taken a dramatic turn, I’ll explain. The Sirtuin1 gene, once called the "holy grail" of longevity and believed to be the gene target of calorie restriction which has been linked to increased longevity-has not been found to be universally activated by a limited calorie diet. A calorie-restricted diet results in more Sirtuin1 gene-derived proteins by exerting stabilization effects, not by activation of the gene. This new finding throws a scientific cloud over the use of Sirtuin1 gene activation tests as a measure of resveratrol activity.

[Tissue-specific regulation of SIRT1 by calorie restriction. Genes Dev. 2008 Jul 1; 22(13):1753-7; Regulation of SIRT1 protein levels by nutrient availability. FEBS Letters. 2008 Jul 9; 582(16):2417-23]

Researchers once advised consumers to wait for stronger synthetic molecules that can stimulate the Sirtuin1 gene by 1000-fold or more, you know how some scientists are they think they can do a better job than nature. Actual studies with mammals showed over-activation of the Sirtuin1 gene increases the occurrence of heart failure by more than 7.5 fold.

[Sirt1 regulates aging and resistance to oxidative stress in the heart. Circulation Research 2007; 100: 1512-21]

Based on the new data, mega-dose resveratrol is ill-advised and may be related to uncommon but reported side effects, namely Achilles heel tendon inflammation, skin rash, joint stiffening, flu-like symptoms and numbness in fingertips, those conditions are reversible but there is still a lot of hype out there on the wonders of resveratrol.

The Sirtuin1 gene has lost in prominence as the "holy grail" of longevity by itself, as once thought. The Sirtuin family of genes appears to only work in tandem with other genes, such as FOXO1 and PGc1alpha.

[Interaction of aging-associated signaling cascades: inhibition of NF-kappaB signaling by longevity factors Foxos and SIRT1. Cell Mol Life Science. 2008 Apr; 65(7-8):1049-58; Acetylation of Foxo1 alters its DNA-binding ability and sensitivity to phosphorylation. Proceedings National Academy of Science: 2005 Aug 9; 102(32):11278-83]

That is why Nature’s Skin and Body Food has not incorporated resveratrol into its product line.

If you haven’t checked out our products you should. These are the ones you’re looking for-Non-toxic products that produce extraordinary skin effects.

To yours in great health and ageless beauty

Bill Jordan CEO/Nature’s Skin and Body Food