Red Wines Have Different Levels of Resveratrol

For a few years now resveratrol has been in the news as a “super antioxidant” with enormous health advantages derived mainly from red wine, the media hook. Not all red wines are created equal and so not all have the same concentration of resveratrol and thus may not act in the same healthful ways. New research has been conducted on a variety of indiscriminately selected red wines to resolve the issue of resveratrol concentration.

A natural antioxidant, resveratrol is derived from different fruits such as grapes and pomegranates and also in peanuts and other foods grown from plants. Resveratrol and grape skins means it is found in red wine due mainly to the wine making process. Resveratrol has been shown to increase ones defenses against a wide range of diseases and ailments most notably Parkinson’s disease, forms of cancers, cardio vascular illness and it has been widely publicized of late as having anti aging properties.

This anti-cancer element to resveratrol has peaked the curiosity of the scientific community resulting in numerous studies. Even with all the healthful data being produced from research no one has yet methodically or analytically tested its concentrations specifically in red wine. This has meant there is a natural assumption that if you drink one variety of red wine you will gain the same benefits as any other bottle of wine in the rack.
These folks would be wrong. There are most certainly diverse concentrations of resveratrol in various red wines. Researchers are using the latest technology, notably the High Performance Chromatography or HPLC as well as Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectrometry or LCMS, which divide and assemble the ingredients which exist in red wines.

The idea behind the research is to have the ability to suggest the most beneficial type of wine from all of those being studied and examined. Their investigation will also be valuable to wine makers, vintners, suppliers, and sellers so they can advocate the use of healthful labeling on their goods. The long term plan is for consumers to walk down the wine aisle and simply search out the label for resveratrol amounts within the bottles they are looking at purchasing.