Resveratrol is a plant compound found in over 70 plant species, from grapes, peanuts, blueberries, cranberries, and pistachios, to dark chocolate and many more.
This organic chemical helps plants protect themselves from diseases or drought. It boasts antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, which can be ideal for treating skin inflammation and urinary and digestive tract infections and protecting you from diseases like diabetes and cancer.
You can consume resveratrol in small amounts through foods. However, resveratrol supplements can allow you to easily consume safe amounts of resveratrol for added effectiveness. Let’s discuss the top 5 health benefits of this supplement!
1. Helps Lower the Risk of Cancer
Resveratrol has anti-tumor properties and can help prevent and treat different kinds of tumor cells found in, say, the ovary, stomach, breast, skin, pancreas, liver, lung, and colon.
Moreover, it can hinder the formation of cancer in all phases of development. It also helps chemotherapy work more effectively by hindering chemotherapy-resistant proteins.
2. Helps Manage Diabetes
Resveratrol is linked to helping people with type 2 diabetes by minimizing fasting blood glucose, glycated hemoglobin, insulin levels, and insulin resistance. In addition, it may also reduce increased blood pressure, which is quite common in individuals with diabetes.
A few complications of diabetes are also caused by oxidative stress. Since resveratrol has antioxidant properties, it helps combat oxidative stress. It also reduces inflammation, which is another major contributor to diabetes.
3. Protects Your Brain Against Diseases
As resveratrol boasts anti-inflammatory properties, it doesn’t only manage and control inflammation in the body but also in the brain. Brain-related issues like multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and dementia are caused by inflammation of the nervous system parts, which is one of the many reasons.
Therefore, it protects nerve cells and helps keep your brain healthy. In addition to this, beta-amyloids are protein fragments that develop plaques, known for giving rise to Alzheimer’s disease. What’s great is that resveratrol interferes with these fragments and helps prevent this brain disease.
4. Promotes Heart Health
In order to manage and prevent heart-related diseases, resveratrol protects against blood vessel damage while lowering cholesterol levels and preventing the formation of blood clots.
It’s believed that resveratrol facilitates the body in the production of nitric oxide, which helps the blood vessels to relax. Therefore, individuals who suffer from high blood pressure can benefit from resveratrol-containing supplements to lower their blood pressure.
5. Promotes Longevity and Free Radical Protection
Free radicals can damage your body cells and lead to premature aging, leading to serious medical conditions such as kidney dysfunction, heart diseases, and neurodegeneration. Air pollutants, exposure to UV rays and X-rays, and cigarette smoking are some of the factors that can contribute to free radicals in your body.
Since resveratrol is an antioxidant, it neutralizes free radicals in your body and keeps cellular damage at bay. Although other nutrients play a great role in promoting healthy aging by preventing diseases, resveratrol can also extend lifespans.