The trouble is, there's a yin to Testosterone's yang and it's called estrogen. When we increase Testosterone, gosh darn it, some of it changes to estrogen or, more specifically, estradiol, in a process called aromatization that takes place mostly in fatty tissues and yes, muscle. Unfortunately, estrogen does things to us that we don't like. Estrogen can cause an increase in body fat, a reduction of muscle mass, and even a decrease in strength, not to mention making you want to cry at the end of every episode of Grey's Anatomy. It can even cause one of the most embarrassing conditions known to man: gynecomastia, or male breasts. Yikes. To make things worse, increased levels of estradiol can then enter the bloodstream and travel to the pituitary and signal it to stop producing the hormone that prompts the testicles to produce Testosterone. That's right, estrogen is petty. It wants to keep Testosterone levels from going higher. Furthermore, a lot of us believe that estrogen plays more of a role in promoting prostate cancer than the other Testosterone metabolite that generally gets most of the blame, DHT. If only our body's own production of estrogen were the only problem! Unfortunately, modern man is besieged by chemicals in the environment that mimic estrogen. These phony estrogens, known as xenoestrogens, exist in plastic bowls and bottles, air fresheners, pesticides, even toothpaste. They're literally all over the place and far too many find their way into your body every single day. These xenoestrogens can have negative effects on the immune system, mucking up memory, behavior, and even the ability to learn, not to mention the effects caused by regular run-of-the-mill estrogen that I mentioned above. While there are plenty of substances that combat estrogen, it's a tricky business. The thing is, men need some estrogen to maintain the health of blood vessels. Too little estrogen and the things get all brittle and inelastic. Not good. So how do you manage estrogen so that you're able to keep Testosterone levels optimally high, body fat low, and strength high while still maintaining blood vessel health? Thanks for asking, Papi. There's a substance in nature that's been the subject of a whole lot of worldwide research lately. It's called resveratrol and it's a polyphenol found in such foods as peanuts, grapes (and consequently, wine), and mulberries. Resveratrol has a whole lot of good things going for it, but the one we're most interested in has to do with estrogen. You see, resveratrol acts as a potent estrogen antagonist (while also acting as an agonist in some tissues, similar to the drugs clomiphene and tamoxifen). In higher concentrations, it acts as an aromatase inhibitor. That means that it stops the body from whittling away at your Testosterone. This is cool because if a substance stops Testosterone from being converted to estrogen or estradiol, it not only prevents the nasty effects of estrogen (loss of muscle and strength and accrual of body fat), but it increases your level of Testosterone, leading to additional strength and muscle! What's equally important is that it won't cause your Testicles to go on vacation, i.e. shrink. The testicles don't get a signal from the pituitary to shut down because estrogen has been curtailed! There's a lot of good data in animal models to back this up. Studies have demonstrated a resveratrol-fueled increase in Luteinizing Hormone and Follicle Stimulating Hormone (the pituitary hormones that signal the testicles to start producing Testosterone) that's 2.7 times greater than placebo. Additionally, resveratrol caused a 76% increase in sperm count, all of this without any adverse effects. (1) The aromatase inhibition is thought to occur through two mechanisms: reducing the expression of aromatase, as well as binding to the enzyme and preventing it from doing its dirty work. And, unlike conventional aromatase inhibitors, resveratrol doesn't cause a decline in endothelial (blood vessel) function. In fact, it seems to improve it! (2-12) And remember those nasty xenoestrogens I mentioned earlier? Resveratrol seems to occupy the receptor sites, or biological "parking lots," so that these xenoestrogens can't "park" in their spots. That's good. MORE GOOD STUFF While athletes should no doubt be excited about these effects of resveratrol, male and female Life Extension people have been all over this substance for other reasons. An overwhelming amount of literature on resveratrol has demonstrated potent cardiovascular benefits, anti-aging effects, powerful anti-cancer effects, anti-arthritic, and neurological effects (e.g. potential benefits in treating Alzheimer's Disease). Many of these benefits seem to stem from anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects as well as gene modulation. (13-21) What the Life Extension people are most excited about, though, is that resveratrol might actually extend lifespan. Remember those calorie deprivation people that believed you could extend your lifespan considerably by just munching on a ridiculously low number of calories each day? Well, one proposed mechanism by which calorie deprivation can make you live longer is that it activates a protein called SIRT1 (sirtuin 1). Activation of this protein inhibits PPAR-gamma activity and this causes your body to burn fat. It's not hard to imagine that having less fat might cause you to live longer, but remarkably, resveratrol activates this very same SIRT1 protein. So even if you're not concerned with extending your life at this point, resveratrol can cause your body to burn fat. Maybe you've heard of the "French Paradox" (and no, it has nothing to do with why their star soccer player would head butt a guy in the finals of the World Cup)? It's the medical puzzle where certain populations (French and Greek) seem to experience a low incidence of coronary heart disease while eating a diet high in saturated fat. Epidemiologists have reasoned that it has to do with their daily consumption of red wine. Well, many researchers have gone one step further and concluded that it was the resveratrol in the wine that was responsible for the French Paradox. (22-25) This miracle substance has also been shown to have impressive anti-fungal and anti-viral properties, and may even protect the liver from excessive alcohol consumption or oxidative damage from taking too much acetaminophen. (26-39) If all that wasn't enough, there's a good deal of data demonstrating that resveratrol is an extremely promising compound for the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer! (40-48) So if taking Testosterone-boosting supplements has made you wary before because of possible prostate risks, resveratrol seems like the answer to your prayers. QUIT TEASING ME Quit teasing you? Oh, okay. If there's an exciting compound out there, Tim and I want it; we want it for ourselves and we figure that if we want it, chances are you want it too. That's why Biotest has been working on the isolation of pure resveratrol for the last year, and why we're introducing our newest supplement, REZ-V. Each bottle of REZ-V contains 72 tablets of the purest, highest-grade of resveratrol possible. Our recommended dosage of REZ-V is three tablets once per day. It's best to take one large dose of resveratrol, instead of several smaller doses, because of the way it's metabolized. In essence, you want to overwhelm the body's ability to inactivate and excrete resveratrol, which is done through sulfation and glucuronidation (adding sulfate and beta-glucuronide groups). This "overwhelming" process is accomplished at about 200 mg taken in one shot. A three-tablet dose contains 300 mg of pure resveratrol, which is also the dose we believe delivers the greatest benefit for the least cost. Unlike a lot of other supplements, REZ-V doesn't have to be cycled. In fact, because of the super-powerful health and protective benefits, we recommend all males over 18 take REZ-V every day. Excuse me for saying so, but that's all pretty damn cool.