Resveratrol Health Benefits l Resveratrol Studies l Antioxidant Benefits of Resveratrol Sources

New scientific research points to resveratrol as a tool to help repair damaged heart tissue after a heart attack.

Dipak Das, co-author and research professor at the University of Connecticut’s Cardiovascular Research Center, was recently cited in the Journal of Molecular Medicine in an exciting new find on Resveratrol. The researchers mimicked the effects of a heart attack by essentially puncturing the hearts of mice, then stitching them up. Stem cells were then directly injected into the animals’ hearts in an attempt to determine if the cells would regenerate heart tissue and heal the wound.

Resveratrol Supplementation Improved Healing of Infarcted Heart Tissue

One test group was given resveratrol supplements for two weeks. The researchers found that the presence of the antioxidant actually reduced stress on the wound site. As a result, resveratrol appeared to provide favorable conditions for the wounds to heal. Paired with the stem cells, “cardiac function was significantly improved,” the text said. The stem cells survived working alone on the wounds for a period of seven days, whereas with the aid of resveratrol, they continued to thrive for a period of 28 days.

“Our results demonstrate that resveratrol maintained a reduced tissue environment …[and] enhancement of the cardiac regeneration of the adult cardiac stem cells … increased cell survival and differentiation leading to cardiac function,” the study maintained. While more study is still needed,  there is hope that heart attach survivors could enjoy the benefits of resveratrol treatments in the future.

A study published by BMC Physiology on June 2010 shows that Resveratrol supplements caused reduced weight gain in non-human primates (grey mouse lemurs), during their seasonal fattening period. The study was conducted by scientists from the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and the University of Strasburg in France. Resveratrol is an organic polyphenol commonly found in red wine and red grapes, and has been proven to prevent diabetes in rodents by enhancing their energy metabolism. In this latest study, however, the effects of Resveratrol on metabolism have been tested for the first time on non-human primates.

Resveratrol Dosage and Metabolic Effect

Six Lemurs were supplied with a resveratrol dosage by the researchers (200mg per day). This dosage is equivalent to the amount of resveratrol found in several bottles of red wine. This supplementation lasted throughout their winter body-mass gain period of four weeks. While the study was being conducted, the lemurs’ metabolic rate while they were at rest increased by 29%, and they consumed 13% fewer calories. The combined effect caused them to have less seasonal body-mass gain.

The study concludes that Resveratrol suppresses body mass gain in primates by increasing their metabolism and causing a reduced intake of calories.

Buccal Delivery for Improved Resveratrol Absorption

Studies show that intraoral resveratrol absorption through the buccal mucose (mouth tissue) produces the highest availability of unchanged resveratrol in plasma. When resveratrol is absorbed through the mouth tissues, without swallowing, the levels of unchanged resveratrol in blood plasma are up to 250 times higher than with an uncoated resveratrol pill.

Researchers from the Department of Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics and Digestive Disease Center, Medical University of South Carolina, completed a unique study of resveratrol in 2004. The study was intended to determine the amount of resveratrol a human could absorb through oral dose.

Oral Doses of Resveratrol

Resveratrol has long been known to have verified positive impact on a variety of health issues, most notably prevention and suppression of various cancers and heart disease.

Scientific studies have dramatically shown the impact resveratrol (a compound naturally occurring in red wine and grapes) has on cancer cells and lipoproteins. However, the question was raised whether it was feasible that human beings could ingest and absorb enough resveratrol orally to generate the same results as produced in the laboratory. This is the question the team from the Medical University of South Carolina set out to answer.

Conclusion: Low bioavailability of resveratrol when ingested orally

It was discovered that while 70% of the resveratrol doses administered orally was absorbed, most of the resveratrol was soon metabolized and eliminated from the body via urine and feces. Only trace amounts of unchanged resveratrol were found in the bloodstream after a short period of time. These trace amounts do not have the capacity to reproduce the beneficial effects observed in laboratory settings.

Buccal delivery provides greater bioavailability

However, according to another study by Asensi M, Medina I, Ortega A, et al (2002), the most efficient way of administering resveratrol in humans appears to be buccal delivery. This group of researchers found that after keeping the trans-resveratrol compound inside the mouth for up to one minute – without swallowing – the levels of unchanged resveratrol in the bloodstream were 250 times higher to those obtained with pills. These findings make alternative delivery methods such as resveratrol melting tablets, lozenges and chewables more likely to produce the beneficial effects of resveratrol found in the laboratory.

In 2008, Tosca L. Zern, Richard J. Wood, Christine Greene, and Kristy L. West of the Department of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, CT and Yanzhu Liu, Dimple Aggarwal, Neil S. Shachter, and Maria Luz Fernandez of the Department of Medicine at Columbia University in New York, NY, on the effect of grape polyphenols on plasma, inflammation and oxidative stress in both Pre- menopausal and Post-menopausal women.

Resveratrol and Cholesterol

To evaluate the effects of grape polyphenols on plasma lipids, inflammatory cytokines, and oxidative stress, a sample of 24 pre-menopausal and 20 post-menopausal women were randomly assigned to consume grape powder or a placebo for 4 weeks. The grape powder was mostly carbohydrates, but was rich in polyphenols such as, flavans, anthocyanins, quercetin, myricetin, kaempferol, and resveratrol.

Total cholesterol, total triglycerides and LDL cholesterol, also known as bad cholesterol, are three of the main risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). The loss of estrogen has a deep effect increasing plasma lipids and apolipoproteins associated with CHD.

Resveratrol lowers LDL “Bad” Cholesterol

Plasma triglyceride concentrations, plasma LDL cholesterol and apolipoproteins were reduced after the intake of grape powder. Results were more marked in pre-menopausal women (15%), than in post-menopausal women (6%). Bad cholesterol oxidation was not modified by the treatment. However, whole-body was significantly reduced after the intake of the resveratrol supplement. The grape supplement also decreased the levels of plasma tumor necrosis which plays a major role in the inflammation process.

In 2008, Jason G. Wood, Siva Lavu, and David Sinclair of the Department of Pathology at Harvard Medical School in Boston; Blanka Rogina and Stephen L. Helfand of the Department of Genetics and Developmental Biology at the University of Connecticut Health Center in Farmington; Konrad Howitz of Biomol Research Laboratories in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania; and Marc Tatar of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island conducted a study on Sirtuin activating compounds and their life extending properties on animals due to their replication of the properties of caloric restriction.

Particulars of the Study

Caloric restriction extends lifespan in numerous species. Sirtuin activating compounds (STACs) can promote the survival of human cells and extend the lifespan of yeast. Because resveratrol can significantly extend lifespan in yeast the study analyzed whether it could also extend lifespan in other animals like worms and flies.

Key Findings for Life Extention

The study demonstrated that red wine resveratrol and other Sirtuin activating compounds activate sirtuins from a species of worm (Caenorhabditis elegans) and a species of fly (Drosophila melanogaster)and extend the lifespan of these animals without reducing their ability to reproduce.

A 1990 study by Yong Nam Han, Shi Yong Ryu, and Byung Hoon Han of the Natural Products Research Institute at Seoul National University in Seoul, Korea conducted at study in which they discovered that the antioxidant activity of resveratrol closely correlates with its ability to inhibit monoamine oxidase-A activity (the activity of molecules with a single amino acid).

Goal of This Study of Resveratrol

Resveratrol, a polyhydroxylstilbene, was reported to inhibit the activity of monoamine oxidase-A. In this study the team from Seoul National University hoped to discover a plausible mechanism by which red wine resveratrol is able to slow the activity level of monoamine oxidase-A.

Researchers first isolated a number of phenolic substances (among them resveratrol) in an attempt to find the most potent inhibitor of monoamine oxidase-A. Components of the study were serotonin and the mitochondrial MAO of rat brain.

Resveratrol as an antioxidant

The study revealed that not only was resveratrol the most powerful antioxidant of the monoamine oxidase-A inhibitors, it completely suppressed MAO-A and became, in the view of the research team, the selective agent for MAO-A inhibiting.

In 2002, researchers from the Johannes Guttenberg University in Mainz, Germany set out to study the effects of resveratrol on Nitric Oxide Synthase (NAS) to determine its value in the fight against heart disease.

Thomas Wallerath, Ph.D., Goran Deckert, Thomas Ternes, Ph.D., Henrik Anderson, Huige Li, MD, Klaus Witte, MD, and Ulrich Forstermann, MD, Ph.D. conducted the study.

Resveratrol mimics estrogen’s vascular protective behavior

Estrogens have been known to increase endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), thus protecting the walls of the blood vessels. Since red wine resveratrol is similar in structure to estrogen, it can induce this vascular protective behavior.

This study tested the effects of resveratrol on human endothelial cells.

Testing Resveratrol’s Influence on Vascular Cells

The researchers used human umbilical vein to test resveratrol’s effect on endothelial cells. Cells were incubated for 12 to 72 hours with resveratrol or were left untreated (as in the case of the control). The team then monitored things such as eNOS mRNA, phytoestrogens, eNOS activity, etc.

Results: Resveratrol an effective preventative agent for heart and cardiovascular disease

Resveratrol increase the activity of the eNOS promoter. The eNOS mRNA was thus stabilized by the resveratrol keeping the vascular cells healthy. This discovery shows that resveratrol supplements can be used effectively as a preventative agent for heart and cardiovascular diseases by maintaining vascular cell health.

At the School of Life Sciences at Lanzhou University, G.A. Liu and R.L. Zheng conducted research into the ability of polyphenols (groups of chemicals found in plants) to protect healthy cells against diseases like heart disease and cancer at the cellular level.

Seven polyphenols were studied, among them resveratrol.

DNA damage was induced by using hydrogen peroxide on human peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) which is known to cause single strand breakage in DNA. The researchers then observed the ability of the seven polyphenols to protect the cells against the damage the hydrogen peroxide was invoking on the cellular DNA.

Resveratrol Provides Significant Cell Protection

Resveratrol, as well as others of the seven tested polyphenols, had a substantial impact on inhibiting cell damage. The impact was dose-dependent as higher doses were more effective in cell protection.

Some of the polyphenols, however, failed to provide any protection. In fact, only three had any effect in protecting the cells against hydrogen peroxide damage (resveratrol, quercetin, and 7.8-dihydroxy-4-methyl coumarin), but these had a big enough impact to convince the researchers that they had discovered a possible mechanism explaining resveratrol’s outstanding track record in protecting against cancer and heart disease.

Hai-Bo Zhou, Juan-Juan Chen, Wen-Xia Wang, Jian-Ting Cai, and Qin Du of the Department of Gastroenerology in the Second Hospital of Zhejiang University set out to study the effects of resveratrol on stomach cancer. The 2004 study revealed some critical findings about resveratrol.

The researchers transplanted human stomach cancer into the subcutaneous tissue of nude mice to determine resveratrol’s effect on live candidates.

Three different doses of resveratrol were tested (500 mg/kg, 1000 mg/kg, and 1500 mg/kg). The dose was directly injected beside the tumor in each candidate. Changes in tumor size were then monitored.

Effects of Resveratrol on Stomach Cancer Tumors

In all cases, the resveratrol inhibited cell growth significantly. As the dose increased, the inhibition rate also increased. In fact, at 1500 mg/kg inhibition rate reached nearly 40%.

In addition to the growth inhibiting effect, resveratrol also induced cell apoptosis (natural cell death) in the cancer cells. A marked reduction of tumor size was observed.

Resveratrol slowed cell development in the stomach cancer cells at a rate of up to 40% and initiated apoptosis in the gastric carcinoma cells.

Doctors Z.J. Sun, H.S. Liu, and G.J. Wang published a study in 2002 that examined the anti-tumor effect of resveratrol, a red wine ingredient, and the effects of resveratrol with an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug on the growth of liver cancer cells.

The doctors, from the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery at the First Hospital of Xi’an Jiaotong University Xi’an in Shaanxi Province, China, tested their theory in a controlled environment. The doctors wanted to see if resveratrol and an anti-cancer chemotherapy drug could work together to produce an outcome on the liver cancer cells that couldn’t have been reached with either agent alone.

The study shows that red wine resveratrol did restrict the growth of liver cancer cells. The doctors also found that the combined anti-tumor effects of resveratrol and the chemotherapy drug were greater than the effects of liver cancer cells treated with only the chemo drug.

Overall, resveratrol supplements can suppress the growth of liver cancer cells in a controlled laboratory-testing environment. Also, resveratrol’s anti-tumor activity may occur through the initial processes of programmed cell death, where younger cells replace old cells.