A lot of supplements sold online don’t have any medical research to support their claims. Resveratrol’s problem is that there is medical research to back up almost any claim you want to make about it. This organic compound found in red wine is supposed to help you fight aging, cancer, high blood sugar, Alzheimer’s, and inflammations, without having to change your diet or eat your vegetables. It’s a miracle! Or maybe it’s just a matter of miscommunication. Singularity Hub would like to walk you through the basics of resveratrol and help you decide if it’s full of hope or hype.
Does resveratrol work? Buyer beware...and perhaps be hopeful, too.
If a single supplement could do everything that resveratrol experiments suggest it can, you can bet everyone would be clamoring to take it. And many are. You can’t type ‘reserveratrol’ into a search engine without being bombarded by ads, and I’m guessing one or two may appear on this page right now. Before you buy you should ask yourself two questions: will this company actually be selling me a supplement containing reserveratrol? If so, would it actually improve my health?
How did we get to resveratrol?
It turns out the real fountain of youth is a lack of apetite. In the 1930s Crowell and McCay at Cornell University discovered that feeding mice less food helped them live longer. This calorie restrictive diet got everyone thinking about how to reverse the affects of aging. Coincidentally, resveratrol was first isolated as a substance in the roots of the white hellebore soon after in 1940.
So people knew that eating less food while still receiving the proper nutrients kept you alive. It also helped slow all the major problems of aging. The problem is that the most restrictive method of reducing caloric intake is called starving and it has a pesky side effect called death. Diets high in fruits and veggies and low in meats and sugars do get close to the conditions that can produce longevity (as we see in the world’s blue zones). Most people, however, would rather die young than give up meats and sugars, so scientists started looking for a way to mimic calorie restriction without actually eating less.
You really can’t talk about resveratrol without mentioning the French Paradox. Back in the early 90s, Dr. Serge Renaud proposed that the reason that the French could consume a diet high in fats, but have low instances of heart disease was due to drinking red wine. When 60 Minutes ran the story of Renaud’s work US red wine sales jumped more than 40%. Renaud, many supposed, had hit upon the jackpot: eat all the fat you want, just drink red wine and you’ll be fine.
Turns out that red wine contains a fairly high concentration of resveratrol, up to 13 mg/L. In 2003, Dr. David Sinclair from Harvard Medical School demonstrated that high doses of resveratrol extended the lifespan of yeast by 70%! In 2006 he saw that resveratrol allowed mice on a high fat diet to be as healthy as mice on a normal diet – mimicking the supposed French Paradox. It was the first paper, published in Nature, that really got the modern resveratrol movement off the ground. His work has been cited by many of the companies selling supplements online. Of course, most of the quotes accredited to Sinclair are complete fabrications, as he stated unequivocally to Business Week. Misquoting celebrities is just good marketing though, right?
Before Sinclair, work had been done at the University of Illinois linking topical applications of resveratrol to fighting cancer in mice (Jang et al, 1997), but after Sinclair things really got going. Reports were published that resveratrol could help fight cancers of various kinds, diabetes (Palsamy et al, 2008), and even plaque buildup on the brain (Karuppagounder et al, 2008). It officially became the miracle drug.
Despite its relatively high levels of the chemical, you can't get enough resveratrol from drinking red wine.
How it works exactly, depends on who you ask. Its active mechanism has been supposed to be increased testosterone, increased estrogen, reduction of free radicals and even decreased copper. Sinclair and others, however, have highlighted resveratrol’s affect on the ‘SIRT1′ genes. While the exact nature of SIRT (silent mating type information regulation) genes isn’t fully understood, they seem to code for proteins that help your cells with DNA problems. A study of adults in Finland (weird, huh?) seemed to indicate that active SIRT1 genes increased metabolic efficiency (Lagouge et al, 2006) – again mimicking the benefits of that calorie restriction diet.
Ok, but should I buy it? Ask the mice.
Of the dozens of scientific papers that have been peer reviewed and published, none have conclusively shown that resveratrol causes longevity in humans. Proving that would theoretically take 80 years or so. Most work has been done on yeast, mice, worms, and other short lived animals. Even the other ‘miraculous effects’ of resveratrol (anti-cancer, anti-diabetes, etc) haven’t been shown to translate to humans (though some research is in clinical trial right now). Sinclair and his team are concentrating on many different ways to stimulate the SIRT genes, resveratrol being only one avenue.
And remember the French Paradox? Well, it turns out that Renaud’s number may have been off a little. Follow up studies on heart disease in France suggest that there may be comparable levels of heart disease as in other countries. In fact, most of the perceived certainties about red wine and resveratrol still need to be verified. Scientific studies have to be repeated and independently confirmed before you should rely upon them.
Even if reservatrol would work as well in humans as it does in mice, worms, etc, there still remains the problem of getting enough of it into your system. Most researchers estimate that it would take 3-5 grams per day, that’s a lot of pills, to reproduce the effects seen in mice. But pills just won’t work for humans. Resveratrol doesn’t move around your system very easily and it is quickly metabolized by your liver and intestines. Getting concentrations high enough to do you any good may involve topical gels, or injections.
The problem is that similar to genetic testing, stem cells, and other ‘miracle’ technologies, people are trying to purchase before science is ready to sell. That leaves consumers open to charlatans. I’m not saying that the claims about resveratrol will never be proven true, I’m just saying it hasn’t happened yet. Until a proven longevity pill hits the market I’m going to stick to eating right, getting exercise, and avoiding stress. They may not sell that on the internet, but it still works.
Comments
test
It seems to me that by feeding our bodies too much we are drawing our defense resources away from their real purpose. Sensibly reducing our calorific intake and maximising the nutrients that are present in our remaining diet will soon bring our bodies back into line and allow our defense systems to clean out the crap that has built up in our cells over the years.
It seems to me that by feeding our bodies too much we are drawing our defense resources away from their real purpose. Sensibly reducing our calorific intake and maximising the nutrients that are present in our remaining diet will soon bring our bodies back into line and allow our defense systems to clean out the crap that has built up in our cells over the years.
Aaron,
Thank you for all the great articles. You do the best job I've seen of taking the data for what it is worth and not making more out of it than is real.
I was hoping to start maybe a new thread. Back in 1995 I took a real interest in the longevity research and contacted Dr. Hart at I believe the National Cancer Institute. I had read some of his work and asked him for a list of the papers on mice and calorie restriction. He was very kind and sent me about 50 papers that had been done. I read through every one with much glee (ok, so I'm a geek). What seemed clear to me, but was not either noticed or accepted by the researchers was that they had done 2 things most of the studies: 1) Calorie Restriction vs. all you can eat, and 2) Added nutrient (vitamins and minerals) to a level that was equal to the amount eaten by the all you can eat mice.
All of the papers seemed to consider #2 non-relevant since the nutrient were “the same”. But in my mind, the nutrient were actually almost 3x higher per body weight for the restricted mice. My experience with drugs and nutrients is that the dose is mg/kg of body weight. So this seemed backwards.
Then I noticed that some of the papers used exercise to keep the body weight down. THese also showed the improvements. But again we have 2 things going on, both the higher nutrients / body weight and the introduction of high levels of exercise.
Finally, one of the papers just left the rats in cold water making their bodies use more energy to keep warm. This also worked. But again, I couldn't definitively decide if the extra nutrient / body weight or the reduced body weight were the important factor.
Are there any studies that separate these two possibilities?
Also, do you happen to know what the nutrient list would be that were added to these mouse diets?
Thank you very much!
I believe that to be true the consumption of to many calories can cause aging but there is really no none fountain of youth. http://male-yeast-infection-poster.blogspot.com…
I’ve been doing research on Resveratrol for the past few weeks and from all the evidence I’ve gathered, it seems like a breakthrough anti-aging supplement. I’m going to buy resveratrol and I’ll report back on how it works!
I’ve been doing research on Resveratrol for the past few weeks and from all the evidence I’ve gathered, it seems like a breakthrough anti-aging supplement. I’m going to buy resveratrol and I’ll report back on how it works!
There have been several human clinical trials (and more in process) that confirm the Harvard studies. It has also been found that when combined with a broad spectrum of polyphenols, especially quercetin, increases the bioavailability of Resveratrol. In addition, most people who take a high quality Resveratrol supplement (I take Vindure 900 from Vinomis) feel the short term effects such as increased energy, and can measure the blood sugar and blood pressure control which would not occur if the Resveratrol were not at a “theraputic level.”
Great insight, Barry! And thatz the point: CO-FACTORS. SYNERGY. Thatz why Resveratrol doesnt work (well) in Humans–we need the SYNERGY of all of the NUTRIENTS in the GRAPE! The QUERCETIN, the POLYPHENOLS, SUGARS, VITAMIN C, etc. The problem with much of Scientfic Thought is this whole EXTRACTION THINKING, ie., taking the PART out of the WHOLE and expecting it to be efficacious as it was prior.
Also I think our excitement with ANIMAL TESTING and the odd YEAST needs to be held in check. YEAST? For Gods sakes! what did they expect? WINE is a YEAST by-product! So it would love the RES stuff. And MICE have a different NERVOUS SYSTEM than WE THE PEOPLE. Caution should be used before we get to AMPED over said results with them thar fellas….We have exchanged the chase for the FOUNTAIN of YOUTH for the PILL of YOUTH.
Eat WHOLE FOODS, drink lots of WATER, FAST/SLEEP well and EXERCISE (and enjoy good RELATIONSHIPS) and you tend to live longer (see the BLUE ZONES book).
There have been several human clinical trials (and more in process) that confirm the Harvard studies. It has also been found that when combined with a broad spectrum of polyphenols, especially quercetin, increases the bioavailability of Resveratrol. In addition, most people who take a high quality Resveratrol supplement (I take Vindure 900 from Vinomis) feel the short term effects such as increased energy, and can measure the blood sugar and blood pressure control which would not occur if the Resveratrol were not at a “theraputic level.”
Great insight, Barry! And thatz the point: CO-FACTORS. SYNERGY. Thatz why Resveratrol doesnt work (well) in Humans–we need the SYNERGY of all of the NUTRIENTS in the GRAPE! The QUERCETIN, the POLYPHENOLS, SUGARS, VITAMIN C, etc. The problem with much of Scientfic Thought is this whole EXTRACTION THINKING, ie., taking the PART out of the WHOLE and expecting it to be efficacious as it was prior.
Also I think our excitement with ANIMAL TESTING and the odd YEAST needs to be held in check. YEAST? For Gods sakes! what did they expect? WINE is a YEAST by-product! So it would love the RES stuff. And MICE have a different NERVOUS SYSTEM than WE THE PEOPLE. Caution should be used before we get to AMPED over said results with them thar fellas….We have exchanged the chase for the FOUNTAIN of YOUTH for the PILL of YOUTH.
Eat WHOLE FOODS, drink lots of WATER, FAST/SLEEP well and EXERCISE (and enjoy good RELATIONSHIPS) and you tend to live longer (see the BLUE ZONES book).
Being from Finland, the “weird, huh?” joke didn’t quiet hit me.
Good work nonetheless!
@Ciantic,
I just found it funny that Lagouge chose a specific population and one not particularly related to the resveratrol debate. Also, this isn’t in the post, but it was exactly 123 Finnish people, which again, I find to be a funny sort of specificity.
As always my humor is hit or miss, so I’m glad you liked the story anyway.
Cheers.
Being from Finland, the “weird, huh?” joke didn’t quiet hit me.
Good work nonetheless!
@Ciantic,
I just found it funny that Lagouge chose a specific population and one not particularly related to the resveratrol debate. Also, this isn’t in the post, but it was exactly 123 Finnish people, which again, I find to be a funny sort of specificity.
As always my humor is hit or miss, so I’m glad you liked the story anyway.
Cheers.
Resveratrol is also a supplement that treats high blood pressure. Resveratrol protects your arteries against the damage of oxygen free radicals. It helps to prevent hardening of your arteries.
Resveratrol is also a supplement that treats high blood pressure. Resveratrol protects your arteries against the damage of oxygen free radicals. It helps to prevent hardening of your arteries.
Gabriel, when using this stuff, you have to consider that in the Sinclair mouse study, the high calorie mice group’s longevity effect started to show in the overall group only after the equivalent of 6 human years of using Resveratrol, so the trick is to keep at it.
Gabriel, when using this stuff, you have to consider that in the Sinclair mouse study, the high calorie mice group’s longevity effect started to show in the overall group only after the equivalent of 6 human years of using Resveratrol, so the trick is to keep at it.
One also has to be especially sceptical about the scientific claims in fields like this because it is possibly (to put it politely) for the leading researchers to acquire signficant vested financial interests in the outcomes – to give one example, see here. I hope resveratrol does turn out to be useful for something, but at the moment it is sounding a bit like the new Coenzyme Q10.
One also has to be especially sceptical about the scientific claims in fields like this because it is possibly (to put it politely) for the leading researchers to acquire signficant vested financial interests in the outcomes – to give one example, see here. I hope resveratrol does turn out to be useful for something, but at the moment it is sounding a bit like the new Coenzyme Q10.
I switched to a vegetarian diet last year with no fried foods, no white foods, and very little cooked food. It’s been awesome… meals are filling, and I have tons of energy and feel terrific!
I switched to a vegetarian diet last year with no fried foods, no white foods, and very little cooked food. It’s been awesome… meals are filling, and I have tons of energy and feel terrific!
Really interesting post. I have started to consume resveratrol in capsules few months ago. Today I can’t tell you what I feel, becouse this is not a touchable thing like other super products. Just one thing what I feel, that I am not tired like few months ago.
Gabriel (Budapest, Hungary)
Really interesting post. I have started to consume resveratrol in capsules few months ago. Today I can’t tell you what I feel, becouse this is not a touchable thing like other super products. Just one thing what I feel, that I am not tired like few months ago.
Gabriel (Budapest, Hungary)