COPD, Non Food Source of Resveratrol, Obesity, Diabetes And Kidney Failure, And More....

Welcome back to my blog which highlights the research done on the natural product resveratrol , a compound extracted from certain fruits and nuts (that reminds me of an old California joke where I grew up). There has been considerable research on resveratrol with 3972 articles published on resveratrol in medical journals as of April 19, 2011. The studies continue to use mostly lab animals or cell cultures but this month there is another human study, sort of. Any of these articles can be viewed directly by going on www.pubmed.com and search by topic or citation. I hope the following will help you appreciate the potential health benefits of resveratrol .

1. COPD From the University of Cologne, Germany comes a paper on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. This is a common lung disorder mostly among people with a history of smoking. This is the “sort of” human study. Lung cells were taken from living smokers, ex-smokers, and never smokers. In many people, steroids do not help with acute flare-ups of COPD but are used anyway because there is not much else that works any better. Steroids, like prednisone, are not without side effects and complications, especiall if used long term (weeks or months). In this study the lung cells of the 3 groups were each divided in half. Half of each was exposed to resveratrol and the other half to a steroid. All were then treated with a bacterial toxin. The steroid group showed more reaction to the toxin than the resveratrol , indicating that resveratrol could be a safe and effective alternative for lung inflammation in a COPD patient. (Basic Clin Pharmacol Toxicol, Mar 29, 2011)

2. Non-food source of resveratrol State University of New York, Buffalo At this time there is promising research on developing a strain of bacteria that will produce diesel fuel (bio-diesel) as a by-product. Similarly there is research on developing a strain of bacteria in New York and Germany which will produce resveratrol , which ideally make producers less dependent on natural sources such as fruits and nuts. Now that goal is a hope and a dream. If it works, no one knows if the end result would be worse than, same as, or better than the product of Mother Nature. There is the possibility of an alternative source of resveratrol in the future. (Appl Environ Microbiol Mar 25, 2011)

3. Obesity Yonsei University, Seoul, South Korea (where I was a visiting professor 1989-1990) A group of rats was divided into a resveratrol treated group, and a placebo treated group. They were all fed a high fat diet. The resveratrol group had 48% less weight gain and 58% less fat pad weight gain, and a lower increase in the rise in cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar. The paper went on to discuss the various chemical pathways that caused these results. Whatever the reason, the results are definitely encouraging. Keep in mind we are not recommending resveratrol in order to partake in your own personal high fat diet experiment. There was still weight gain and fat pad weight gain in the resveratrol rats. (Biochem Pharmacol Mar 31, 2011)

4. Diabetes and kidney failure Oxidative stress plays a crucial role in progression of kidney damage in diabetics with high blood sugars. A group of diabetic rats was given a chemical that causes kidney damage. Half that group was fed resveratrol and the other a placebo. In the resveratrol group there was a significant normalization of kidney function. The mechanism was that there is a kidney protective effect by the anti-oxidant resveratrol in reducing the oxidative stress in the kidneys resulting from high blood sugars. (Biochim Biophys Acta Mar 23, 2011)

5. Liver protection From Serampore College, West Bengal, India comes a paper that affects only a small number of people but I found it interesting. In people with high fever or heat injuries such as sunstroke and heat exhaustion, there is liver damage. Again, rats volunteered and were subjected to high temperatures. Then half the rats were given resveratrol and the other half nothing. The resveratrol group had a dramatic improvement in liver function with rapid recovery. Resveratrol appears to be “an effective antidote in the ttreatment of heat induced(liver) malfunction”. (Toxicol Mech Methods Mar 23, 2011)

6. Heat stability From the University of Split in Croatia looked at the heat stability of resveratrol . For those of you who want to get their resveratrol from red wine and not just Shaklee’s Vivix, a studt was done where red wine was heated to boiling until all of the alcohol was cooked off. Then it was colled, and the vasodilation effect was measured and compared with the effect of unheated resveratrol . There was no difference. This means resveratrol is heat stable and can be used for cooking, and may not be heat resistant during storage and shipping. (J Cardiovasc Pharmacol Mar 17, 2011)

I hope you get some benefit from these reviews. I am constantly hearing about this one small corner in the overall work of medical research. All of this is encouraging in the use of resveratrol for a variety of health conditions, or just for prevention and wellness. Until next time, Dr. Bob