Optimized Resveratrol, 60 vegetarian capsules
Resveratrol is a plant compound that supports the healthy expression of genes associated with slowing down aspects of the aging process — as well as overall health. Optimized Resveratrol also contains synergistic phytonutrients like quercetin, trans-pterostilbene, fisetin, plus a red grape and wild blueberry fruit blend for additional polyphenols, anthocyanins, and more.
Benefits at a Glance
- Promotes “youthful gene expression” similar to calorie restricted diets
- Encourages healthy insulin sensitivity and mitochondrial function
- Supports a healthy inflammatory response
- Contains a red grape and wild blueberry fruit extract blend
- Augmented with synergistic trans-pterostilbene, quercetin, fisetin
Read More About Resveratrol
Studies show that calorie-restriction diets can activate youthful gene expression, a process that slows down certain aspects of aging. But resveratrol triggers many of the same favorable gene expression changes as calorie restriction, without the difficult diet to adhere to.
Resveratrol’s health benefits
Found in red grapes, resveratrol may be the most effective compound for maintaining optimal health and promoting longevity1 — the most active form of which is trans-resveratrol.
In higher doses, resveratrol promotes healthy insulin sensitivity, encourages enhanced mitochondrial function, promotes a healthy inflammatory response, and protects against the effects of a high-fat diet. And our Optimized Resveratrol formula includes a red grape and wild blueberry blend for additional polyphenols, anthocyanins, and more.
Augmenting Resveratrol
Combining trans-pterostilbene with resveratrol confers even greater health benefits. Laboratory tests show that pterostilbene (a compound from the same chemical family as resveratrol) encourages cardiovascular health, supports glucose levels already within the normal range, and promotes cognitive health. It also encourages healthy mitochondrial and metabolic function, promotes antioxidant activity, and supports a healthy inflammatory response.
Also contains Fisetin and Quercetin
The flavonol compound fisetin can “switch on” the cell-signaling molecules for youthful gene expression, DNA protection, healthy cellular function, and even supports vulnerable neurons against the presence of oxidative stress. And research indicates that fisetin synergistically enhances resveratrol, stabilizing it and shielding it from metabolic breakdown.
Quercetin is a bioflavonoid that promotes cardiovascular health, supports healthy cholesterol levels already within normal range, helps reduce oxidative stress, promotes a healthy inflammatory response in blood vessel walls as a result of healthy gene expression, and supports healthy blood glucose levels already within normal range.
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Additional Information
Life Extension – Optimized Resveratrol 250 mg. – 60 Vegetarian Capsules
Life Extension has identified certain compounds that mimic calorie restriction’s ability to trigger youthful gene expression, the process by which genes transmit signals that slow certain aspects of aging. These compounds include trans-resveratrol (which researchers contend is the most active constituent), whole grape extract, quercetin, plus certain compounds found in berries, including trans-pterostilbene and now fisetin.
Findings from published scientific literature indicate that resveratrol may be the most effective compound for maintaining optimal health and promoting longevity. Resveratrol is a phytoalexin, a polyphenolic compound which is produced by Vitis vinifera as a response to attack by molds. Because of the widespread use of pesticides in modern wine making, including the practice of copper sulfation, the level of resveratrol in modern wines has plummeted. Red wine contains resveratrol, but the quantity varies depending on where the grapes are grown, the time of harvest and other factors. In fact, usually only one to three mg of resveratrol per liter of red wine is currently found, even in the most robust red wines. After years of relentless research, a standardized resveratrol extract is now available as a dietary supplement.
Research funded by the Life Extension Foundation showed that a combination of low-dose (20 mg) resveratrol plus grapeseed extract mimicked many of the favorable gene expression changes seen in calorie-restricted animals. Other studies, however, indicate that higher doses may be needed to obtain all of resveratrol’s positive benefits including promoting healthy insulin sensitivity, enhanced mitochondrial function, reduced expression of inflammatory factors, and protection against the effects of a high-fat diet.
Life Extension has evaluated published studies on resveratrol to establish the doses humans might need to take to duplicate the remarkable laboratory findings. The results of Life Extension’s analysis yield a wide range of potentially effective doses: from 20 to 250 mg a day and higher. The resveratrol potency you choose may be based on your current state of health and/or your desire to reach the upper limits of a healthy human life span.
Pterostilbene, a stilbene compound from the same family as resveratrol, has been shown to work synergistically with resveratrol, to unlock one’s longevity genes … thus conferring even greater anti-aging benefits. In laboratory tests, pterostilbene has shown promise for supporting cardiovascular health, glucose levels that are already within normal range, anti-aging and cognitive function.178-185 It helps improve mitochondrial function and supports healthy metabolic function by activating SIRT1 and mimicking calorie restriction.186,187 It has also shown potential to ease inflammation and support antioxidant activity.
Fisetin, found in strawberries, has the power to “switch on” cell signaling molecules that support youthful gene expression, DNA protection, and healthy cellular function.160 Fisetin also supports aging neurons in the presence of oxidative stress. And, most importantly, it works in synergy with resveratrol. Researchers have uncovered compelling evidence of fisetin’s ability to stabilize resveratrol by shielding it from metabolic breakdown, thus extending its beneficial effects! So naturally we added it, along with these other four calorie restriction mimics, to this most advanced resveratrol formulation.
What are Life Extension’s quality control standards?
Life Extension uses only premium quality vitamins and other ingredients. Their dedication to excellence insists that their nutritional supplements meet the highest standards and criteria.
That is why Life Extension insists on purchasing only the highest quality raw materials from all over the world, primarily from leading US, Japanese and European sources. Life Extension goes one step further by using advanced analytical methods, such as high-performance liquid chromatography and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, to ensure their products meet label claims for potency and purity. Life Extension tests its raw materials using US Pharmacopeia and other exacting pharmaceutical assay standards.
Why are Life Extension’s nutritional supplements more advanced than other dietary supplements?
The unique ingredients included in Life Extension’s products are often years ahead of the products sold by commercial vitamin companies. Life Extension scientists analyze thousands of scientific studies every week to make sure their health-promoting formulas include the most advanced life extending ingredients in the world. The Foundation interacts with the world’s foremost gerontology researchers in order to obtain inside information about antiaging breakthroughs before these findings are published. The Life Extension Foundation funds the most advanced anti-ischemia laboratory in the world, where antioxidant vitamins, hormones, and pharmaceutical agents are used to prevent free radical induced cellular damage.
Are Life Extension’s vitamins natural or synthetic?
Life Extension carries a combination of natural and synthetic vitamins and supplements. Some advertising statements would have them believe that “natural” is better, but natural supplements in some instances contain impurities such as pollen and naturally occurring hormones that can cause problems for some people. Synthetic nutrients are manufactured to be chemically identical (with the exception of vitamin E) to those extracted from natural sources, and are the most pure nutrient vitamins.
What does Life Extension do to ensure the quality of its products?
They focus on three specific areas.
- Raw Materials: Unlike other supplement companies, the natural ingredients that go into Life Extension’s supplements are not chosen based on cost. Instead they are chosen based on purity (to exclude contaminants such as microbes and heavy metals), potency, and usage in successful scientific research.
- Validation of the Efficacy of Ingredients by Scientific Research: Life Extension uses ingredients and dosages that accurately replicate the most successful results obtained in scientific studies for maximum efficacy.
- Manufacturing: Naturally, Life Extension is in strict compliance with current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) for manufacturing, packaging, and storage.
Does the label accurately list exactly what’s in the bottle?
Yes. All active ingredients from patented, scientifically validated raw materials as well as final, finished products are verified using advanced analytical methods such as HPLC (highperformance liquid chromatography), MS (mass spectrometry), etc., to ensure each and every product accurately meets label claims in strict compliance with their demanding product specifications.
When it comes to supplements, is cost an indicator of quality?
Where Life Extension is concerned, yes. Patented materials validated in scientific studies cost more — period. In contrast with many commercial brands focused on driving up margins by using the cheapest raw materials available, Life Extension collaborates with raw material suppliers who invest in scientific validation of their ingredients, which increases material costs. With Life Extension products, you get the quality you pay for.
What are the “Other Ingredients” on the label, and why are they important?
They are inactive ingredients (excipients) that play a number of critical, essential roles in the manufacturing process including:
- Achieving uniform density for accurate dosing
- Dispersing the active ingredients evenly throughout a solid tablet, capsule, and softgel
- Protecting active ingredients from rapid inactivation due to heat and moisture
- Promoting tablet disintegration, as well as capsule and softgel dissolution
- Sustaining the release of active ingredients into the body over time
Why do some companies refer to these excipients as a threat to your health?
Claiming any product is “pure and free of excipients” can be deceptive advertising, too frequently used to draw attention away from inferior active ingredients! The right inactive ingredients used in the right way do important things … like ensuring that a tablet disintegrates in your GI tract rather than just passing through your system without benefit, or keeping a product from breaking down and being susceptible to microbes. Take Life Extension blueberry extract, for example. It contains AuroraBlue wild-harvested, Alaskan blueberries. To retain their nutritional complexity, these berries are freeze-dried and carefully milled for capsule formulation. But being a whole fruit raw material, it tends to want to reconstitute itself with moisture, which would make it a breeding ground for bacteria. So Life Extension uses a drying excipient to keep the milled blueberry material dry, so it can safely deliver its superior nutritional value compared with other, less costly blueberry extracts in most commercial formulations.
All of the excipients Life Extension uses have earned GRAS (“Generally Regarded As Safe”) status. In many cases not using them compromises final product quality! Excipients are used in nutritional supplements to ensure uniform density of complex active materials, to achieve even dispersion of active ingredients, and to promote appropriate disintegration and/or dissolution of active ingredients inside your body.
Should I be concerned about the use of stearic acid?
Stearic acid functions as a flow agent in the manufacture of quality products, and stearic acid also occurs naturally in the foods you eat. For example, four ounces of dark chocolate contain 3,625 mg of stearic acid; a cup of kidney beans contains 1,655 mg of stearic acid; an ounce of raw ground beef (grass-fed) contains 2,063 mg of stearic acid; and a half pound of lean raw turkey contains 1,642 mg of stearic acid. Even a tablespoon of allspice contains 1,513 mg of stearic acid! Life Extension supplements, on the other hand, typically contain no more than 10 mg per capsule. They always use the lowest level of magnesium stearate possible.
Should I be concerned that products with soybean oil or lecithin are a source of phytoestrogens?
While it is true that soy isoflavones are phytoestrogens, the amount in soybean oil or lecithin is so minute, the USDA lists it in foods as having zero value for isoflavones. To give you a frame of reference, Life Extension’s Ultra Natural Prostate contains 4 mg of lecithin which supplies only about 0.006 mg of soy isoflavones!
Should I be concerned with the usage of genetically modified plants (GMOs)?
Soybeans are an example of a crop that has used extensive genetic engineering to increase crop yield. The reality is that soybean oil and soy lecithin are highly processed derivatives of soy, far removed from their soy origin. Genetic modification doesn’t alter the entire plant, only a specific gene. Thus, specific molecules like soy lecithin are the same whether they come from a GMO or non-GMO soy source. However, due to their sensitivity to customer concerns, products with corn and soy-based active ingredients are in process of having the labels updated to list when soy and corn-derived active ingredients have been certified to be from non-GM food crops.
Does the gelatin used in softgels and capsules contain MSG?
Gelatin does not contain MSG, but does contain about 0.05 grams of glutamic acid in one softgel. You ingest about 120 times more glutamic acid in a serving of asparagus, cabbage or tomatoes!
What’s the difference between tablets, capsules and softgels?
Sophisticated products require sophisticated delivery systems. The best companies choose the most effective finished form based on the characteristics of the raw materials, and the desired disintegration or dissolution characteristics of the finished product and the active ingredients.
Why aren’t Life Extension products organic?
The word “organic” conveys the perception of quality to consumers. But it actually relates to foods that are grown rather than products that are formulated. Many of their scientifically validated raw materials are not produced organically. Rather, their mandate includes rigorous testing and scrupulous processing. The objective is purity, both in terms of our raw materials and their finished products.