In the past few years as a war on sugar has been waged, fruits have come under fire as being unwitting participants in the formation of an obesity epidemic.
No, fruits aren’t the main reason people are fat.
However, the fact that many are high in sugar… and the juices made from these fruits even worse for the waistlines, means fruit has been put on notice.
“You are part of the reason people are fat,” health experts declare.
Well, that might not be entirely true.
It turns out that some fruits, especially berries, certain varieties of grapes, as well as fruits like the pomegranate and more may contain a secret weapon against the war on fat.
That weapon is resveratrol.
No doubt you’ve heard of it before. It’s the miracle compounds scientists implicated in the “French Paradox.”
And new research shows it could certainly help people lose weight.
How Resveratrol Might Help People Lose Weight
Resveratrol is an antioxidant, which means it exhibits neutralizing effects on dangerous elements called free radicals.
And while antioxidants aren’t necessarily known for helping people lose weight, it would appear that resveratrol may exhibit an excitatory effect on the metabolism.
Dr. Wiggy Saunders writes:
“When it comes to weight loss, resveratrol has been shown to help the body burn fat.
In the journal, BMC Physiology French researchers demonstrated lemurs given resveratrol didn’t gain as much weight as those who weren’t given resveratrol. Just like people at Christmas time, lemurs tend to gain a lot of weight around the winter months.
In the study, they discovered that when these lemurs took resveratrol over a 4-week period, they ate substantially less. The researchers suspected the reason they didn’t eat as much was because their metabolism was increased along with their body temperature which helped to suppress appetite.”
And Natasha Turner ND, wrote the following about resveratrol.
‘One of resveratrol’s main advantages is that it can improve how your body handles what you eat and whether it’s stored as fat or burned for fuel known as insulin sensitivity. Research published in Nature showed that resveratrol protected mice from the harmful effects of a high-calorie diet, including heart disease, weight gain and diabetes.
Resveratrol appears to act on adiponectin, which is produced by our fat cells and helps us lose fat by improving our insulin sensitivity. Not only that, but according to a Purdue University study, this supplement may be able to block immature fat cells from developing and prevent existing fat cells from growing.’
There’s not much research on resveratrol and weight loss in humans.
However, a study published in the journal Cell Metabolism showed men who took 150 mg of resveratrol saw several markers related to metabolism and weight management improve.
Over the course of 30 days, blood sugar levels improved. So too did blood pressure as well as fat levels on the liver.
The subjects didn’t lose any weight, but supporting studies indicate when those kinds of health measurements improve weight loss isn’t far behind.
One note about resveratrol and weight loss is sustained weight loss with resveratrol is generally going to be found with supplementation and not through dietary intake via fruit.
High levels of sugar calories would negate any potential weight loss achieved via intake by way of fruit containing resveratrol.
