The Power of Resveratrol

It belongs to a family of compounds known as polyphenols, which are known to combat damaging free radicals. Research shows that resveratrol has the ability to penetrate deeply into the center of the cell’s nucleus, allowing our DNA to be protected from free radical damage which you know by now, if not protected, leads to cancerous growth. Furthermore, resveratrol has potent anti-inflammatory activity which helps prevent certain enzymes from triggering tumor development.

Besides, helping to prevent cancer, resveratrol can be very helpful to those receiving conventional cancer therapy and acts as a:

*Chemo-sensitizer--a substance that can help you overcome resistance to chemotherapy drugs.

*Radiation-sensitizer—making cancer more susceptible to radiation treatments.

Improved radiation sensitization was established in a study conducted at the University of Missouri, where melanoma cells became more susceptible to radiation when given resveratrol prior to radiation. When treated with resveratrol alone, 44% of the cancer cells underwent cell suicide [2].

Additionally, improved chemotherapy sensitization was nicely demonstrated in an article in the journal “Biomedical Pharmcotherapy [3]. In this study, the oncologists were able to lower the dose of the chemotherapeutic agent, Sorafenib, and achieve the same results when combined with resveratrol. Resveratrol therefore enhanced the effects of the Sorafenib. 

In a recent review of the scientific literature, resveratrol was shown to reduce many different human cancers, including breast, cervical, uterine, blood, kidney, liver, eye, bladder, thyroid, esophageal, prostate, brain, lung, skin, gastric, colon, head and neck, bone, ovarian, and cervical [4].

In another influential animal study, resveratrol was validated to have significant anti-mutagenic effects [5]. This is extremely important in the prevention of cancer. It is even more critical in the cancer patient who has achieved remission and wants to stay there. In an interview with esteemed myeloma genomic scientist, Dr. Nikhil Munshi, he revealed that at myeloma diagnosis a cancer cell has around 5,000 genetic mutations and at relapse approximately 12,000. It is therefore critical for all of us to try to minimize the amount of damage to our DNA. It is estimated that we get 19,200+ incidents of DNA damage per day [6]. Thankfully, we have DNA repair enzymes that can mend a lot of this damage. Prevention, however is the best way to deal with DNA damage and this best accomplished through a whole food plant based diet which provides extremely high antioxidant potential (64X the antioxidant power compared to animal products. Resveratrol, by the way, is one of the most powerful antioxidants found in food.

I personally take resveratrol in a vegetarian capsule form twice daily. It is called “Methylated Resveratrol Plus” made by Douglas Labs which can be purchased on Amazon. One capsule contains Vitamin D3 1,000 IU, MERIVA curcumin phytosome 250 mg, resveratrol 100 mg, pterostilbene (methylated resveratrol) 50 mg, proprietary cruciferous 150 mg and a vegetable and fruit blend of Wasabia japonica, broccoli powder, and organic pomegranate powder.