Most resveratrol supplements are not worth the investment. While researchers have shown many resveratrol benefits in the laboratory, the nutrient must reach your bloodstream in order to perform its magic. The latest research indicates that it does not usually make it to the bloodstream.

They have tested people's blood after drinking wine on an empty stomach, drinking it with food and taking uncoated resveratrol supplements. None of these caused a significant increase in the levels of trans-resveratrol in the bloodstream.

All of the studies concerning resveratrol benefits were conducted using trans-resveratrol. The supplement with the highest trans-resveratrol content is standardized to a 50% concentration. If an enteric coating is applied, this type of supplement can increase the blood level of trans-resveratrol, but most companies don't use the right form and they don't include an enteric coating.

You won't get any resveratrol benefits from a powder or liquid form. You might get some by drinking red wine, but researchers believe that the benefit of red wine is not due to its trans-resveratrol content. The amount that you would have to drink to significantly affect circulating blood levels would be damaging to the liver.

So, resveratrol supplements are a good idea, as long as the manufacturer uses the right form, combines it with other important nutrients and wraps the whole thing up in an enteric coating, to insure that it reaches the upper intestine, where it can pass through to the bloodstream.

Some of the resveratrol benefits include a healthier heart, a reduced risk of cancer, better functioning metabolism and possibly an extension of your lifespan, if the results of the laboratory studies can be transferred to humans.

No one is sure how or why it works in the ways that it does. There are only theories.

One of the most convincing is that trans-resveratrol increases the activity of a gene that can reduce a free radical known as superoxide. Superoxide molecules are not highly toxic, but they can, over time, cause DNA degeneration.

If this theory is correct, resveratrol supplements should include vitamin C, enzymes and glutathione. The gene reduces superoxide to hydrogen peroxide, which is also a free radical. Vitamin C and other ascorbates, reduce hydrogen peroxide to water. If glutathione and enzymes are also present, vitamin C remains more active for a longer period of time.

Some of the better supplement manufacturers include the right combination of antioxidants and other nutrients to provide the greatest effect. Resveratrol benefits are included among them.

There are hundreds of different nutrients and plant extracts that are known to be beneficial to human health. It would be nearly impossible to include all of them in your diet. Some of them are not plants that we normally eat. Extracts from marigold, for example, are known to protect the eyes from oxidative damage. When was the last time that you ate a marigold?

So, supplementation is important and necessary, if you want to live the longest, healthiest life possible. But, single-ingredient resveratrol supplements are not your best choice for supplementation.