Resveratrol shows promise as a great anti-aging compound, which is why we’ve talked about it several times. It’s found naturally in red wine as well as grapes and peanuts, and is now available in most vitamin stores as a supplement. However, some experts think it’s very difficult to get enough resveratrol into your system to have any sort of meaningful result. There is new research on resveratrol showing more benefits, and calling into question just how much is beneficial.

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Over the years, there has been a lot said about the “Mediterranean Diet.” In short, people who eat like the modern-day Greeks or coastal Italians — lots of vegetables, some olive oil, relatively little meat and meat products, moderate wine consumption — tend to live longer. Researchers have recently completed a study of 23,000 people in Greece over the course of a decade to find out what they are doing right, and the results have just been published in this weeks British Medical Journal (BMJ).

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I just spotted this new Canadian study that purports to demonstrate that a single drink of alcohol is good for one’s heart while more than one negates that effect. This doesn’t does in fact show that heart rate and blood pressure drop immediately with a single drink and rise with increasing amounts of alcohol. This involved 13 volunteers observed in real time. This is an interesting finding but changes nothing. It’s the kind of story that will get major press coverage and without considering things in context will appear to negate 30 years of medical literature to the contrary. That’s simply not what this study shows. This study demonstrates a single short term metabolic effect of a single component of alcoholic beverages. That’s all this study shows. The choices of alcoholic beverage were made seemingly to confound things on purpose.

The Canadian researchers used Pinot Noir high in resveratrol as on of their experimental beverages. I’ve written here on the merits of resveratrol and those previous statements stand because it represents long term changes to cellular metabolism created by the resveratrol component of wine, not the short term changes to heart rate and blood pressure.

HDL (good cholesterol) has long been demonstrated to rise with moderate alcohol consumption regardless of alcohol source. Moderate alcohol consumption represents one or two drinks per day and according some investigators a little more than that. So, even in the range the Canadians call out, the benefits of alcohol for its own sake are well documents. Mind you people unable to tolerate changes in their heart rate or brief increases in blood pressure are well advised to avoid drinking all together.

So what is the take home message of today’s publication? There’s no change. Moderate consumption of alcohol is still beneficial over the long term regardless of what popular media outlets might portray as they cover this single study.

Sirtis Pharmaceuticals is running trials on a compound that’s derived from resveratrol. That’s the magic mojo that makes red wine so enticing as a “tonic” and is largely thought to be responsible for the French paradox. It’s available in many other foods but at very low concentrations. It still makes a great excuse to eat more berries and peanuts. The lead article is pretty light on detail but since you can buy resveratrol at the health food store today, you can supplement now. There is some debate in the nutritional community whether your supplement needs to contain quercitin as well to make the resveratrol useful to the body so keep that in mind if you head out shopping. Me, I still like red wine but the tabletized form gets you far more resveratrol than even the most unhealthy quantities of vino can. Cheers.