Resveratol: How to take it if you're a tee-totaller

Tee-totallers who still want the cancer-fighting qualities of red wine often take supplements instead – but health campaigner Ralph Moss reckons they could be paying way too much for any benefit.

Red wine’s active ingredient is resveratrol, and many standard-priced supplements deliver less of a punch because they’re sourced from the Japanese knotweed plant rather than from the more expensive grape.  Grape-sourced resveratrol are far more expensive, says Moss, costing up to $45 per pill.

Stick to the less expensive supplements, says Moss – or drink grape juice or eat peanuts, which contain around half the resveratrol found in most red wines.

One problem is that nobody is sure how much resveratrol needs to be taken before it can fight off cancer, and levels vary enormously in red wines.  Tests have usually shown that the pinot noirs from wetter and more humid regions are the richest in resveratol.

(Source: Townsend Letter, 2008; 305: 40).