Unless you’ve decided to make a career of drinking red wine, the only way you’ll be able to avail yourself of resveratrol’s benefits is by using a resveratrol supplement. Once you’ve made that decision, the research begins.
Resveratrol is available as a pill, in powder form or in gel capsule form. If one of these is preferable over another, then your next job is to investigate the contents of the supplements you’re considering and choose one that will be best for you.
The variations among supplements include the amount of caffeine each contains along with the percentage of each dosage that is in fact resveratrol. The source for the actual resveratrol in many of the supplements is the Japanese knotweed, a large herbaceous perennial plant that is native to Asia but grows very successfully in North America. Some experts feel that the occasional digestive side effects of resveratrol (diarrhea and stomach cramps) can be traced to cheaply produced supplements that contain less than 50% resveratrol.
Caffeine is often included for the purpose of elevating the heart rate and accelerating the metabolic process. Some resveratrol supplements draw their caffeine from green tea extract, an addition that contributes additional antioxidant properties to the compound. A cup of coffee contains 100 – 150 mg of caffeine, a useful benchmark when reading the labels on resveratrol supplements.
The resveratrol powder is another option that can be folded into a smoothie or simply stirred into another beverage. You can also adjust the dosage with powder, introducing resveratrol into your daily diet at a moderate rate in order to see if you have any side effects. This approach is also a good way to test the effect the caffeine will have on you at various dosages.
Packaging can be important with these products. Those that are manufactured with organic ingredients may be subject to deterioration over time and/or if not refrigerated. Some manufacturers package capsules in vacuum sealed containers – and sometimes packaging can also be indicative of the product’s overall quality