What Is Resveratrol?

Resveratrol, an antioxidant nonflavonoid compound, has been receiving attention since the early 1990s when it was discovered as a substance in red wine. It is a compound that may have many health benefits, but human research has yet been done, only test tube and animal studies on resveratrol have been completed.

Basics

• Resveratrol, a micronutrient, is a polyphenolic compound found in grapes, red wine, purple grape juice, peanuts and some berries, including blueberries and cranberries. Resveratrol belongs to a class of polyphenolic compounds called stilbenes---naturally occurring substances in some plants as a reaction to stress, including injury, exposure to ultraviolet light, and infections to these plants caused by fungus.

Significance

• In 1992, scientists became interested in resveratrol when it was determined that this compound was found in red wine. This interest was piqued due to the relatively low mortality rate of the French from coronary artery disease, despite diets higher in fat than some other cultures and their consumption of red wine. It was thought that there was a correlation between the intake of red wine and the lower rate of coronary artery disease in the French population.

  Studies in both the test tube and in animals since 1992 have indicated that red wine intake may in fact lower the incidence of coronary artery disease, but scientists have not yet been able to determine if that is due to the presence of resveratrol alone.

  Other benefits of resveratrol that scientists have been exploring include the possibility that it may reduce the incidence of cancer and increase life span, but studies through 2005 have been unable to verify either of these benefits in humans.

Benefits

• Overall, moderate alcohol consumption has been shown to help guard against the development of coronary artery disease, whether the alcoholic beverage is red wine, beer, or other alcoholic beverages.

  There are substances in addition to resveratrol in red wine that interest researchers in determining red wine's health benefits: antioxidant substances called flavonoids and nonflavonoids.

  The medical community is not advocating that people begin to drink red wine or other alcoholic beverages if they don't already do so, and the benefit of lower incidence of coronary artery disease must be weighed against other effects of alcohol on the body, such as liver damage or the development of alcoholism.

Considerations

• All of the research to date, including studies that suggest resveratrol may reduce the incidence of obesity and diabetes, have been done in mice, not humans. The dosage of resveratrol that mice were given in the study about obesity and diabetes would have amounted to 100 to 1,000 bottles of red wine daily in human terms.

Expert Insight

• Much research has yet to be done to determine whether resveratrol is the compound responsible for the suspected health benefits noted with red wine. Lifestyle differences between those who drink red wine and those who drink beer and other alcoholic beverages cannot be ruled out as some of the differences in health conditions.

  Due to the lack of human studies of resveratrol, the medical staff at the Mayo Clinic do not advise the use of resveratrol supplements available on the market. The medical community, including the American Heart Association and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute are not advocating that people who do not currently drink alcohol including red wine, begin to do so.