Clinical Studies Touting Benefits of Red Wine Component, Resveratrol

With the most people needing to lose a few pounds, wouldn’t it be great to know if some food ingredient or dietary supplement could help. A study published in Cell Metabolism raises some interesting possibilities. Timmers and colleagues conducted a randomized, double-blind study where 11 obese, healthy men were treated with placebo or 150 mg resveratrol daily for 30 days. Resveratrol significantly reduced sleeping and resting metabolic rate. In essence, this preliminary study showed that resveratrol mimicked the effects of calorie restriction.

In a press release issued by the Maastricht University, Professor Patric Shcrauwen said, “This is a real scientific breakthrough. For the first time, we demonstrated the health effects of resveratrol in humans. We also gained insight in how this occurs. Therefore, this study marks a starting point for further research to help improving the health status of the still rising number of people suffering from obesity and type 2 diabetes.”

Previously, acute resveratrol supplementation has been demonstrated to improve blood flow, measured by flow-mediated dilation of the brachial artery (a cardiovascular risk factor), in overweight and obese males. Although red wines, such as pinot noir, are touted to have the most resveratrol, red wines still have less than 2 mg resveratrol per liter, much less than the amounts tested in these two clinical studies.