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Resveratrol is found in a variety of fruit and vegetable plants – and they are classified as spermatophytes and are known to contain natural stilbenes and stilbene glycosides.
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Resveratrol is most known as an ingredient found in the skin of dark
grapes, but the weed Polygonum cuspidaturn is also a very good source of resveratrol. A root extract of Polygonum has been used for a long time in Asian countries to treat headaches, amenorrhea, dysentery, dermatitis, gonorrhea, infections, inflammatory and allergic responses, asthma, arthritis, hepatitis, trauma, hyperlipidemia and arteriosclerosis, hypertension, as well as cancer.
The root extracts of Polygonum cuspidaturn, known as Hu-Chang and Ko-jo-kon, have been credited with many phyto-therapeutic successes in Japanese and Chinese folk medicine. (Clinical trials using 136 patients showed 83 of 94 cases of hypercholesterolemia lowering their cholesterol level.)
The interest today in resveratrol comes from the reports of what was achieved in Japanese herbal folk medications. This covered areas ranging from the treatment of inflammation as well as lipid atherosclerosis ailments and liver ailments such as Hepatitis B.
Other potential sources of resveratrol include Pterolobiurn, heartwoods of Cassia garrettiana, peanuts (Arachis hypogaea), the bark of Bauhinia racemosa and the leaves of Veratrum grandiflorum and the roots and rhizomes of Veratrum formosanum. The latter been used for many years in the East as a folk drug for the treatment of hypertension.
Major emphasis was placed on the presence of resveratrol in vines or grapes because of its function as a phytoalexin and its unique ability to protect against fungal infection.
The potential production of trans-resveratrol in response to UV radiation varies with grape maturity, state of ripening, and season. The synthesis of resveratrol is stimulated in vines and in peanuts under the conditions of external stimuli such as infection, UV light (but not natural sunlight), traumatic damage, or treatment with anti-fungal agents, detergents, heavy metals or chemicals.
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