Dear Friends,
Resveratrol is much more than the “red wine antioxidant” – and research with Veri-te resveratrol has shown it can support many aspects of healthy aging, at lower doses.
To explore why Veri-te resveratrol is so unique and its benefits, I interviewed Dr. Marcia da Silva Pinto, who is the Senior Technical Manager at Lallemand, the maker of Veri-te.
Here is Part 1 of the interview:
Carl Pradelli: Resveratrol is often called the red wine antioxidant. When it came on the scene, it was probably responsible for increasing red wine sales. But in reality, there's very little resveratrol in a glass of red wine. Is this correct?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes, it is correct. But we need to remember that the beginning of resveratrol was linked to that French paradox. If people don't know what the French paradox is, it's the idea that French people—maybe they will not like this concept anymore—were eating a very fatty diet but drinking lots of wine. The researchers had to find what's the magic behind this, because they had very low cardiovascular disease incidence. They found this molecule that was a powerful antioxidant, and that was called resveratrol. That was the beginning. Until now, I think people really associate resveratrol with being this powerful antioxidant compound.
Carl Pradelli: I think in terms of specific numbers, there's only a couple of milligrams in red wine. So there was probably a little more to the French paradox than just, I assume, drinking the red wine.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Exactly. Now we have more knowledge of the dosage that would be beneficial for humans. We would have to drink a few bottles of wine per day, and I assume that we're going to have other problems than just getting the benefits from resveratrol. So there's very little in the wine.
Carl Pradelli: Absolutely. Given that wine is sourced from grapes, of course, we're often asked if our resveratrol comes from grapes. But as we've touched on, there's not really a high concentration of resveratrol in grapes or grape skins to make it a practical source for resveratrol in supplements. Is that the case in your opinion?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes, it is. You have a few sources in the market. The grape seed extract that many people say is a source of resveratrol—in fact, the concentration of resveratrol is around 2% maximum. There are many different other compounds, like, for example, the OPCs, the proanthocyanidins, and these are completely different from resveratrol.
Carl Pradelli: Right. They're very good and beneficial, but they're not resveratrol. Typically, a lot of what we've seen in the marketplace really confuses customers because they'll see a product with a red wine grape extract or something similar as part of the formula. They'll say, "All right, well, that's where the resveratrol is coming from." But we generally know if you have any type of substantive quantity of resveratrol in your formula, that's probably not the source of resveratrol. It has to be coming from something else. Is that what you've seen too?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes, it is. You do have other sources. Talking now just about grapes and the red wine extract, 2% is the maximum that you're going to get. So if you are really looking for a resveratrol source, you have to get other sources because 2% is very little in this.
Carl Pradelli: Yes. Maybe we'll talk a little bit about those other sources before we get to Veri-te, because I think it's relevant to your ingredient. One of the main sources, probably the primary source we've seen in the market, is the Japanese knotweed plant, which is largely grown, I believe, in China, at least as a source for resveratrol. There are some challenges with using the knotweed plant as a resveratrol ingredient.
Carl Pradelli: Explain some of these for us.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes. The Japanese knotweed, sometimes called Polygonum as well, is very common, especially in the U.S. market. You have many sources. You can get 98% as well, but I know that most of the sources sold there are 50%. There are two challenges. One, it's an invasive plant. We know nowadays that all the invasive species and plants have a huge impact on the environment.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: And the 50%—this is something interesting because it's 50% resveratrol, and I always ask, "What is the other 50%?"
Carl Pradelli: Yes.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Because if 50% is resveratrol, the other 50% needs to be something that, unfortunately, we don't know. And not even, I think, the suppliers, because there are many different compounds. We cannot identify everything that's in a plant. There are many different compounds that we cannot identify in this other 50%. So we need to take that into account, and this is an issue that we see with this product.
Carl Pradelli: Specifically, one of the compounds that's frequently in that other 50%, or even in extracts of higher purity, is emodin, which is an anthraquinone. We're familiar at NatureCity with emodin because one of our founding products was aloe vera based. You find emodin, aloin, and some other anthraquinones in aloe vera. We're very careful to exclude those from what we put in our products because they can cause gastrointestinal distress. They can have strong laxative properties.
Carl Pradelli: Basically, that's why sometimes you'd hear people don't tolerate resveratrol very well. I think we found that the challenge was emodin or some of these other impurities, which were really causing their stomach upset or whatever, not the resveratrol. I don't know if you have had any experience with that too.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes. You're right. Even with the 98%, you will always need to ask, "What are the other 2% that you have?" We know that many sources, particularly now that we're discussing Japanese knotweed, it's a plant. It needs to grow somewhere. The soil, the water that's used, everything is very important because these will all be present in the plant.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Then the extraction—you cannot always guarantee that you can remove the impurities. One of them, for example, is emodin, or the PAHs, the polyaromatic hydrocarbons as well, that are not healthy. I think it's very important always to question, even though you think 98% or 50%, what is the rest?
Carl Pradelli: That's a great point. Just to put it in context a little bit for our audience, 98% sounds high, but what's in that 2%? To give you an example, Marcia, in the aloe vera world, the standard is you want to be below 10 parts per million of emodin, aloin, and all those anthraquinone compounds. Ten parts per million is not a lot, right? Even though you're 98%, that 2% still could be problematic, right?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes, it's true.
Carl Pradelli: You've addressed a lot of this with Veri-te in terms of the impurities as well as a sustainable source of resveratrol. Let's talk a little bit now about Veri-te resveratrol and why you think it's a better option for a supplement—pure resveratrol without unwanted effects. Then maybe we'll talk a little bit about how it's made, if you could share that, please.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes. We're discussing the sources. We talked about grape seed extract, red wine, the Japanese knotweed. Also, you have synthetic resveratrol, which is made by chemical synthesis. Of course, nowadays, consumers don't want synthetic. They want more sustainable, natural, if possible.
Carl Pradelli: Yes.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Evolva, which is now owned by Lallemand, is a Swiss biotech company. We're based in Basel. For those who don't know much, it's close to Zurich. We specialize in yeast fermentation. We use our baker's yeast, the one that's used for bread. We make this baker's yeast special in a way that produces, for example, resveratrol, our Veri-te. As you can imagine, we just need to feed the baker's yeast with vitamins and minerals. There is no need for heavy metals to do the catalysis of the reaction, for example, in a chemical synthesis.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: We have no environmental contaminants because we don't depend on crops; we don't plant. At the end, you have a very high-purity ingredient. Sustainable, because it's a very sustainable process. Many people say yeast fermentation, the precision fermentation, that's the future. We bring this high-purity, sustainable ingredient, but it’s also backed by research studies. I think this is also one very important point, and the brand.
Carl Pradelli: Absolutely. We're going to definitely speak about that a little bit.
Carl Pradelli: This was not an easy process to develop. I've been following the Veri-te story now for—I don't know how long it is—but it took quite a while to perfect this, I believe. Is that correct?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes. We have a big team of scientists. This is the core of our company, the science that they developed. It took very long to get to this process because we have to follow all the high-quality standards and perfect the process in a way that we don't have batch-to-batch variations. It had to be very well designed. The scientists worked very hard on that.
Carl Pradelli: It took at least 10 years to develop this, so it was not an easy thing to accomplish. As you mentioned, you've coupled what's a great fermentation process for producing pure and natural resveratrol with big investments in research and scientific studies. Before we even get into those, maybe give the audience a quick overview of what resveratrol really does in the body. What makes it special? Why is it something they should consider supplementing?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: I think we started talking a little bit about this powerful antioxidant, and I said, "Okay, there is so much beyond this." This is something also at the core of our research here, because we are evolving the knowledge. We know that today, resveratrol, yes, is still a powerful antioxidant. But you have many other mechanisms. For example, activating SIRT1. SIRT1 became very popular because this is related to longevity. SIRT1 is the longevity gene. Resveratrol is considered one of the most potent SIRT1 activators. Beyond antioxidants, you have a very potent activation of SIRT1.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Then it's a vasoactivator. It improves blood flow to the brain, to the body. Very important.
Carl Pradelli: Yes.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: And activates AMPK. You just need to remember this has to do with cell energy. Many people are talking about mitochondria. As we age, the mitochondria start not working as well. Resveratrol has this power to support what we call mitochondrial biogenesis. It means reactivating and creating new mitochondria so that you get more cell energy.
What I always say as well is that we list all these mechanisms, but we forget that they are all happening at the same time. That's why resveratrol is so potent and beneficial for us. There are more than 270 published studies on resveratrol reporting beneficial effects. How is that possible? If we think about it as just an antioxidant, we cannot explain these effects.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: But if you think that all these mechanisms are happening at the same time, that's the way that we look at the molecule, saying, "Yes, now I understand how resveratrol can provide so many health benefits."
Carl Pradelli: Marcia, I think you explained that really well. Really, the superpower of resveratrol is not only its ability to function as an antioxidant, to help promote blood flow, but you also have these other benefits of helping promote cellular energy and cellular longevity. That's quite a package from one supplement ingredient.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes, it is. That's why many researchers look at resveratrol as the holistic ingredient. That's another word, and resveratrol fits perfectly there, because if you think about holistic, having an overall effect on health, this is the ingredient because of the different mechanisms. SIRT1 is not only involved in longevity but many different other processes, which is also interesting. Even including bone health, you have activation of the sirtuins.
Carl Pradelli: Definitely want to spend some time on that, because bone health as a health concern is very much of interest to a lot of our audience. One of the things I was thinking as you were just speaking: we hear how powerful and potent it is, but there's sometimes a philosophy in the world of supplements—maybe in the world in general, but certainly in supplements—that more is better, right? That's the mentality. We've seen this a little bit, certainly with resveratrol products, where 100 milligrams may be good, but 200 is better, and 500 milligrams must be really terrific, right?
Carl Pradelli: One of the things that was interesting to me and uncovered in your research was that the optimal dose may be actually a lot less than people think. I think you've settled that about 150 milligrams a day, taken twice a day in 75-milligram servings, might be optimal. Can you discuss this and just how you reached that conclusion?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: This is very interesting. People say, "The more, the better. I should take more. Since it's so beneficial, now you explained all the mechanisms, I'm going to take grams, and it's going to have more effect." No, it's not true. This conclusion came from a group of researchers led by Professor Peter Howe in Australia. He's an academic key opinion leader in this area. They did an interesting study with what we call a dose response. People would receive different dosages, and they would look at the effect on blood flow. What they saw is that this low dosage, two times 75 milligrams or 150 milligrams per day, was enough to have the effect. It's very interesting because they went to much higher dosages, and they got the same effect.
Carl Pradelli: Interesting.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: It's very interesting. They say also two times 75 milligrams, morning and evening. If you want, we can discuss why this is. It's a very interesting topic also for the consumers about bioavailability.
Carl Pradelli: We should definitely speak about that for a second. Just one question before that, before I forget: do you think it matters, the quality of the resveratrol, with respect to the dosage you need? Or was it really more of a general statement, you think?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: I think the source is going to be more about what else you are taking. If you think about people thinking "the more, the better," and they were taking 500 milligrams from a source that has other components that will not be so beneficial, I would be very concerned. I think the source is very important. As I mentioned, in this case, Veri-te has no impurities that would be of concern to the consumer.
Carl Pradelli: Absolutely. I know you touched on it, but a very important topic for those interested in resveratrol is the bioavailability and why it's important to break it up into multiple servings. Can you explain that a little bit for us?
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Yes. This is a common concern. Consumers say, "I'm going to take resveratrol, but resveratrol has a low bioavailability." One reason for taking more is because they think, "If I take more, I absorb more." No. And the second is because it has a low bioavailability. This is really a misunderstanding that was in the past when people looked into bioavailability. I always say that's the pharma concept. You take resveratrol, and you look at the blood; you need to find resveratrol. The problem is that resveratrol is metabolized to other compounds. We know today what we call the conjugates, sulfates, glucuronides, but also what we know more today is about the microbial metabolites. Resveratrol is also metabolized by the gut microbiota.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: What happens is all these metabolites are also circulating in the blood. That's why it's so important to follow the science, because we know as well, from many reports, that these microbial metabolites have biological activity. Now you start understanding why resveratrol has an effect as well. Two times a day, morning and evening: you take it in the morning, resveratrol is metabolized to conjugate metabolites.
They are circulating in the blood, but at some point they will be excreted. Then you have the second dosage. What you make sure is that you have constantly this pool of resveratrol and metabolites circulating in the blood. That's how you get the effect.
Carl Pradelli: Right. That's why you recommend not taking one big dose, but 75 milligrams in the morning, and 75 milligrams in the evening, just because it metabolizes fairly quickly, so we want to replenish it accordingly.
Marcia da Silva Pinto: Exactly.
We’ll pause the interview here - be sure to read my next letter, where Marcia discusses the impressive research findings with Veri-te resveratrol and how it can support your bone, brain, cardiovascular and metabolic health, skin, and certain challenges related to the menopause transition.
Yours for Good Health,
Carl Pradelli
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