If you’re a weekend warrior like me, spending most of your week in front of a computer, then going out and working on your yard all weekend or skiing at the lake or some other physical activity to which the body is not accustomed, you’ll appreciate this article.

Resveratrol is being touted as an Anti-Cancer, Anti-Inflammatory, Anti-Diabetes, Anti-Aging supplement, and more. How much of this is hype and how much is real? I can’t recall another substance that so quickly rocketed to prominence, due to an explosive accumulation of positive research evidence. Resveratrol stepped onto the nutritional stage in the mid-1990s’ when it was thought to be responsible for many of the benefits of red wine. Since that time, this has been hotly disputed, but hundreds of research papers have revealed far more intriguing possibilities for this fascinating substance.

These days, it’s the rare adult get-together where folks don’t end up comparing their cholesterol test results. Well, I am willing to bet that vitamin D levels may someday be a more popular topic of conversation. One of the major changes I have made in my approach to patient care over the past two years, is to routinely check Vitamin D levels in my patients. Why? Because it is now clear that this simple equation for health is true: Low Vitamin D Levels = High Likelihood of Chronic Disease and Premature Death.

The opposite, fortunately is also true: Optimal Vitamin D Levels = Low Risk of Chronic Disease and Premature Death. It is that simple. So much of what passes for “information” in the arena of natural supplements does not actually hold up under the scrutiny of large studies in diverse populations. The exciting news about vitamin D is that the data is so solid, and backed by so many excellent, real-world studies, it has created believers out of even nutritional skeptics in the mainstream medical community.