Resveratrol is an antiviral toxin secreted by plants. It exists in more than 300 edible plants (common ones include grapes, blueberries, cranberries, peanuts, cocoa, etc.). It is used to fight against external environmental stresses such as trauma, bacteria, infection, and ultraviolet rays. It can be said to be the patron saint of plants.
Resveratrol is a type of polyphenol antioxidant. It was first isolated from white hellebore by Takaoka in 1940.
Resveratrol is generally divided into cis and trans isomers, but the trans isomer is more stable (Trans-resveratrol is the most common in nature), and many effects are only seen in the trans isomer (such as regulating inflammatory pathways and anti-proliferation). Therefore, it has become the mainstream of health care ingredients and the main research target.
Currently, most supplements containing resveratrol are made from root extracts of Polygonum cuspidatum.
The Function of Resveratrol
1. Resveratrol is beneficial for blood pressure regulation
Hypertension is a chronic disease that can lead to a variety of health problems, such as cardiovascular disease, myocardial infarction, stroke, retinopathy, and renal failure.
It is estimated that about 1 billion people suffer from hypertension worldwide, and by 2025, this number will reach 1.56 billion.
Although drug treatment and lifestyle changes, especially diet management and exercise, are considered common strategies in this case, compliance with these methods is generally low.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (meta-analysis, including 17 randomized controlled clinical trials with a total of 681 participants) pointed out that resveratrol has a beneficial but not significant antihypertensive effect on systolic blood pressure, mean arterial pressure, and pulse pressure, while no relevant effect was observed on diastolic blood pressure.
In addition, subgroup analysis showed that the blood pressure improvement effect was most significant in subjects with a daily dose of ≥300 mg or diabetes.
２. Resveratrol benefits memory and cognitive performance
Age-related cognitive decline, characterized by a functional decline in mental processes such as attention regulation, memory capacity, and processing speed, can pose a significant burden on individuals as it is associated with reduced functional independence and quality of life.
The number of people over 60 is expected to double by 2050, and although aging is an inevitable part of life, the rate of deterioration varies greatly between individuals, caused by modifiable lifestyle factors such as exercise, body mass index, and dietary patterns.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 4 randomized controlled trials with a total of 226 participants) indicated that resveratrol supplementation had no significant effect on memory and cognitive performance (assessed by auditory verbal learning tests, including learning ability, delayed recall, memory, and recognition).
3. Resveratrol benefits bone health
Osteoporosis is a bone disease characterized by decreased bone mass and microstructural changes, leading to bone fragility and increased risk of fractures. The prevalence of osteoporosis increases steadily with age, and it is estimated that osteoporosis causes 1.5 million fractures in the United States each year.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), osteoporosis is defined as bone density at the hip or spine that is at least 2.5 standard deviations below the mean peak bone mass of young healthy adults, as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry (DXA).
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 6 randomized controlled trials with a total of 264 participants) showed that compared with placebo treatment, resveratrol supplementation significantly improved serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and bone alkaline phosphatase (BAP) values, but serum calcium, osteocalcin, type I collagen C-terminal telopeptide (ICTP), and type I procollagen N-terminal pro-strand (P1NP) did not significantly improve.
4. Resveratrol is good for cardiovascular health
Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death from non-communicable diseases. It is closely related to lifestyle factors such as lack of exercise, smoking and unhealthy eating habits. Its prevalence has increased dramatically around the world.
A sad statistic is that in the United States, one person dies from cardiovascular disease every 39 seconds, more deaths than cancer. Therefore, it is necessary for any medical system to adopt appropriate strategies to manage cardiovascular health and related diseases.
A pooled analysis (including 21 randomized controlled trials, a total of 681 overweight or obese participants) pointed out that resveratrol supplementation can significantly reduce total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure and fasting blood sugar.
In addition, subgroup analysis showed that the related effects of reducing total cholesterol, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, glucose and insulin were most significant in subjects who took higher doses of resveratrol (daily dose ≥ 300 mg).
5. Resveratrol improves hyperlipidemia
Hyperlipidemia (also known as high blood lipids) can be roughly divided into elevated cholesterol, elevated triglycerides, or both. It is one of the components of metabolic syndrome and is closely related to obesity, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and stroke.
The causes of hyperlipidemia may be genetic, environmental, or both.
Generally speaking, the characteristics of genetic syndromes include very high cholesterol levels (> 300 mg/dL) and triglyceride levels (> 500 mg/dL), skin xanthomas, family history, or lack of expected response to the maximum therapeutic dose of lipid-lowering agents.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 21 randomized controlled trials with 949 adults) pointed out that the use of resveratrol failed to significantly improve blood lipid-related values (such as total cholesterol, high low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and triglycerides).
6. Resveratrol helps with weight loss
According to many epidemiological studies, obesity has been identified as a major causative factor for many diseases, such as cancer (breast cancer, endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, colon cancer, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostate cancer), type 2 diabetes, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, congestive heart failure, asthma, chronic back pain, osteoarthritis, pulmonary embolism, and gallbladder disease.
Therefore, weight loss is not only about pursuing a perfect body shape, but also about being healthier.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 28 randomized controlled trials with a total of 1,514 participants) pointed out that oral resveratrol (median dose: 300 mg, median duration 12 weeks) helps reduce weight (weight, WMD: -0.51 kg), body mass index (BMI, WMD: -0.17 kg m2) and waist circumference (waist circumference, WMD: -0.79 cm), but there is no significant improvement in body fat (fat mass).
In addition, subgroup analysis further found that the effect of reducing weight and body mass index was most significant in subjects with a daily dose of <500 mg, long-term intervention (≥3 months) and obese patients.
7. Resveratrol regulates blood sugar and is beneficial to diabetic patients
Type 2 diabetes is a common multifactorial genetic syndrome, which is determined by several different genes and environmental factors. Currently, 150 million people worldwide are affected by the disease, and the incidence rate is rapidly increasing due to secondary factors such as obesity, hypertension and sedentary lifestyle.
If one parent has type 2 diabetes, the risk of offspring developing type 2 diabetes is 35%; if both parents have type 2 diabetes, the risk of developing type 2 diabetes increases to 70%.
A systematic literature review and meta-analysis (including 9 randomized controlled trials with a total of 283 participants) pointed out that resveratrol supplementation can improve fasting blood sugar (-0.29 mmol/l), insulin resistance index and insulin level (-0.64 U/mL) in diabetic patients.
In addition, subgroup analysis showed that resveratrol with a daily dose of more than 100 mg had the most significant effect on lowering fasting blood sugar.
8. Resveratrol improves non-alcoholic fatty liver disease
Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease is a series of diseases caused by excessive fat accumulation (more than 5% of liver weight) (excluding drinking, viral infection or other special causes), including non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, liver fibrosis and portal hypertension cirrhosis.
It is estimated that about one-third of the total population in the Western world and Asia currently suffers from this disease, and possible symptoms include right upper abdominal pain, fatigue, hepatosplenomegaly, etc. Although changing lifestyle, limiting calorie intake and losing weight can help the disease, most people often find it difficult to achieve.
Resveratrol is regarded as a savior against fatty liver because of its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and calorie restriction-like effects.
