The ”French Paradox”
Resveratrol - Natural Anti-Aging Elixir
or the past 40 years, it has
been virtually a dogma of Western medicine that a diet high in saturated
fat and cholesterol, and/or a high blood cholesterol level, is the primary
cause of heart disease.
Atherosclerosis: Heart Disease Dogma
The high blood-cholesterol so typical of Western peoples is alleged
to cause atherosclerotic plaques to develop over a lifetime, eventually
plugging up heart arteries and leading to death by heart attack i.e.
myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary thrombosis. The so-called fatty/cholesterol
plaque that can block arteries is called atheroma; the gradual development
of atheroma in heart arteries is referred to as coronary atherogenesis;
and the chief culprit in the process of atherogenesis is alleged to
be cholesterol/saturated fat. More recent refinements of the atherogenesis
dogma implicate high LDL cholesterol and/or low HDLL cholesterol as
the chief culprits in atherogenesis.
Thrombi vs. Atheroma
Yet there is a mass of evidence dating back 40 years that clearly
points to atheroma/atherogenesis as being secondary phenomena in
the 20th-century epidemic of heart-attacks. In a 1984 review article
summing up the case against atheroma as the primary cause of infarction,
Wayne Martin noted that Keely and Higginson in 1957 reported widespread
atheroma among the Bantus of Africa, even though they seemed to
be free from heart-attacks. The researchers suggested that thrombi
(abnormal blood clots) rather than atheroma may be the major cause
of MI. In 1959 Gore et al. found the same degree of atheroma in
Japan and in the United States, despite widely different infarction
rates.
They, like
Keeley and Higginson, said that it was high time more concern should
be given to the danger of thrombi, with less concern about atheroma.
Strong et al. are continuing a study comparing men in New Orleans,
USA, with men in Tokyo, Japan. The atheroma characteristics are
very little different between the two groups; but in New Orleans
the death rate from MI is very high, while among the Tokyo men it
is much lower. In 1980 Sinclair noted that in Jamaica, where there
is severe atheroma (caused presumably by coconut oil in the diet),
atheroma does not seem to cause coronary thrombosis. He stated that
thrombosis, and not atheroma, is the major causal factor of myocardial
infarction.
There is now abundant evidence that although man worldwide is afflicted
with atheroma, many populations in Africa and Asia seem to co-exist
with atheroma without being afflicted with heart-attacks.
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The FRENCH PARADOX:
The French exhibit an
astonishing 42% lower incidence of heart
disease than Americans while consuming one
of the highest fat diets on the planet |
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The French Paradox
Grapes and wine contain a natural antidote to MI and cancer, scientists
report. This discovery could help explain the so-called “French
paradox’ - the lower rates of heart disease and cancer in
nations such as France, Italy, Spain.
Platelet Aggregation and not
Atheroma - main cause of MI
In a classic 1992 article about the French paradox for heart disease,
Renaud and de Lorgeril present evidence that dietary fat and blood
cholesterol are not primary MI villains, at least among the French.
They note that the annual mortality rate per 100,000 population
from coronary heart disease (CHD) is 78 in Toulouse, France, and
105 in Lille, France (for men), compared to 182 in Stanford, USA,
348 in Belfast, UK, and 380 in Glasgow, UK. Yet the saturated
fat intake is about the same for these groups - 15% of the total
calories. The mean serum cholesterol for men is notably lower
in Stanford (209 mg%) than in France (230 in Toulouse, 252 in
Lille), while Belfast (232) and Glasgow (244) levels are similar
to France; yet all three have much higher MI mortality rates than
France.
Renaud and de Lorgeril note that stepwise multivariate analysis
shows that in the 17 countries that reported wine consumption,
wine was the only foodstuff in addition to dairy fat that correlated
significantly with mortality. Wine had a negative correlation,
indicating a protective effect. They then present evidence that
it is not through inhibitory effects on atherosclerotic lesions
(atheroma) that wine provides MI protection, but rather through
a decrease in the tendency of platelets to pathologically aggregate
and plug up heart arteries. They compared farmers from Var, Southern
France (low in CHD mortality), with farmers from south-west Scotland
for platelet-aggregation tendencies. Platelet aggregation was
strikingly lower in Var. Secondary aggregation to ADP, the test
that undergoes the greatest decrease with alcohol, was 55% lower
in Var than in Scotland, whereas mean levels of HDL cholesterol
(allegedly MI-protective) were very similar (69 mg/dl in Girvan,
Scotland, 66 mg/dl in Stranraer, Scotland, and 63 mg/dl in Var).
Consumption of alcohol was greatest in Var (45g per day vs. 20g
per day in Scotland), mostly in the form of wine.
| The World Health Organization indicates that Resveratrol,
an organic compound found in red wine, is one of the active
ingredients which reduces the risk of coronary heart disease
in red wine drinkers by up to 40%. One of the highest concentrations
of the Resveratrol molecule is found in the Muscadine grape.
Muscadine wine has 10 - 12 times higher resveratrol concentration
compared to French red wine. |
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What alcoholic beverage to drink?
Klatsky and Armstrong recorded
the lowest risk of CHD mortality among those who drank wine, compared
with those preferring other alcoholic beverages, especially at higher
rates of consumption. And, when 16 healthy subjects were given pure
alcohol, white wine, or red wine (for 15 days for each beverage),
they found that pure alcohol enhanced platelet aggregation. But
red wine led to a fall in ADP-induced (platelet) aggregation and
increased HDL-cholesterol, clearly the most favorable response of
the three beverages tested.
Klurfield and Kritchevsky fed rabbits an atherogenic diet together
with water (controls), or one of five different beverages containing
equal amounts of ethanol. After 3 months, all the “controls”
rabbits had developed atherosclerotic lesions in the coronary arteries.
Alcoholic beverages, except beer, reduced the incidence of such
lesions, but the most dramatic reduction (up to 40%) occurred in
the rabbits receiving red wine. This is just a sampling of the evidence
that shows that it is primarily red wine, not spirits or beer, that
is heart-friendly.
Yet red wine contains alcohol, and alcohol, especially through its
chief metabolite, acetaldehyde, is a powerful and broad-acting metabolic
toxin, with liver damage being just the tip of the iceberg of its
destructive effects. It became clear by the early 1990’s that
something seemingly specific to red wine provided significant heart
protection. Nutritional scientists began searching to find the active
ingredient(s).
Resveratrol
Researcher David Goldberg rhetorically asked,
“Does red wine contain a biological component that is present
only in limited amounts in a typical diet?” Indeed it does:
resveratrol. This trihydroxystilbene is synthesized by grapes, being
present in the canes, leaves and the skin of the berries. Other
than peanuts, no other human-consumed foodstuff contains significant
amounts. The resveratrol story does not begin with its recent discovery
in wine. It actually started in the early 1980s among Japanese scientific
re-searchers. Reporting in 1982, Arichi et al. noted that the dried
roots of Polygonum cuspidatum have been used in traditional
Japanese and Chinese medicine in a product called Kojo-kon, used
to treat a wide range of afflictions, including fungal diseases
of the heart, liver, and blood vessels. Resveratrol and its glycoside,
polycoside polydatin have been shown to be the primary active ingredients
of Kojo-kon.
Free radicals and Antioxidants
Antioxidants inhibit lipid oxidation
by reducing general [hydroperoxide] tone. The polyphenolics including
Resveratrol and Quercetin, commonly found in wine, are potent antioxidants.
De Whalley et al. (1990) reported that flavonoids act by protecting
(and perhaps regenerating) the primary antioxidant, tocopherol [Vitamin
E], by direct antioxidant effects, and by scavenging free radicals.
Frankel et al. in 1993 reported both Resveratrol and Quercetin to
be more powerful antioxidants than Vitamin E in protecting human
LDL against oxidation.
In 1994, Stavric wrote that it appears that a number of the biological
effects of quercetin and other flavonoids may be explained by their
antioxidant activity and the ability to scavenge free radicals.
The antioxidative function of quercetin, found in red wine, was
enhanced by ascorbate (vitamin C). And even more potent beneficial
effects of quercetin, as a radical scavenger and/or as inhibiting
lipid peroxidation were found in its combination with Vitamin E
and Vitamin C.
Conclusions for blood
Thus, a combination of resveratrol (RSV),
quercetin (QRC), vitamin E (E), vitamin C (C), and the trace mineral
selenium (Se) may be expected to have a highly synergistic effect
in reducing pathological platelet-aggregation (thrombogenesis),
maximizing PGI2/minimizing TXA2 (thus dilating arteries for healthy
blood flow, as well as opposing platelet aggregation) and minimizing
free-radical damage/disruption to blood vessel lining (i.e. preventing/minimizing
atherogenesis).
Resveratrol, red wine and cancer
There are three stages of cancer development.
First stage - “trigger stage”. This is the early
stage when cells starts an abnormal reproduction cycle. An immune
system usually destroys these abnormal cells. Second stage
- “promotion stage”, when your immune system is not
able to destroy all cancerous cells, and they reproduce rapidly.
Third stage - “growth stage”. In this stage the
number of cancerous cells is huge, they expand rapidly while impairing
the functioning of the body. Each of these stages can last for several
years.
It was shown that resveratrol content in ordinary French red wines
is approximately 5 parts per million, while in Muscadine wine from
North Carolina it is ten times greater - up to 50 parts per million.
Anti-cancer evidence
These previously mentioned five compounds
RSV, QRC, E, C and Se also have a similar beneficial effect in preventing
cancer, or even aiding in its cure. In 1997 Jang et al. reported
the results of a series of biochemical, cell culture, and animal
studies with RSV in the prestigious journal Science. They reported
that Resveratrol inhibits cellular events associated with all three
stages of tumor development: initiation, promotion and progression.
They also wrote that “...we studied tumorigenesis in the two-stage
mouse skin cancer model in which a special chemical (DMBA) was used
as initiator and another chemical (TPA) as promoter. During an 18-week
study mice treated with DMBA-plus TPA developed an average of two
tumors per mouse with 40% tumor incidence. Application of 1, 5,
10 or 25 [micromoles] of resveratrol together with TPA twice a week
for 18 weeks reduced the number of skin tumors per mouse by 68,
81, 76 or 98% respectively, and the percentage of mice with tumors
was lowered by 50, 63, 63 or 88%, respectively. No overt signs of
resveratol-induced toxicity were observed.” They also note
in their paper the importance and potency of RSV’s antioxidant
and anti-mutagenic activity in preventing tumor initiation.
QRC
has also shown potent anti-cancer activity. QRC has been shown
to inhibit the growth of cells derived from human and animal cancers,
such as leukemia and Ehrlich ascites tumors, the estrogen receptor-positive
breast carcinoma (MCF-7), squamous cell carcinoma of head and
neck origin, gastric cancer and colon cancer, as well as human
leukemia HL-60 cell in culture. Vang et al. reported RSV to be
active in normalizing HL-60 cells in culture back into normal
cells. QRC has antiproliferative activity against breast and stomach
cancer primary cultures. Several studies report that Vitamin E
reduces tumor growth and exerts an anti-cancer effect in both
the initiation and promotion stages because of its antioxidant
and immuno-enha-ncing actions. Vitamin E appears more effective
in conjunction with other nutrients (such as selenium and Vitamin
C), than by itself in the prevention of tumor growth.
Note: Anyone who suffers
from platelet deficiency or blood-clotting difficulties should
use such a program only under medical supervision, if at all.
Similarly, anyone taking medical blood-thinning drugs (e.g. aspirin)
should use the program only under medical supervision, if at all.
By James South MA
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