STROKE AND DIABETES

Greetings and welcome back to my Resveratrol based blog.  As you probably know, all of the following information came from published articles from medical journals from around the world.  All are reviewed by experts in that field and approved prior to publication.  They are posted online by the U.S. National Library of Medicine and can be found at www.pubmed.com.  To date there have been 4845 articles published in the medical literature.  This blog will concentrate on D\diabetes and strokes.  A stroke results from loss of blood supply to part of the brain.

STROKE  From the Harvard School of Medicine comes an article on how Resveratrol not only reduces the volume of brain injury after a stroke but also promotes recovery from the stroke.  Testing was done with cell cultures in glass petri dishes.  the presence of Resveratrol in cultures of cells that line arteries induces growth of arteries, a process called angiogenesis.  What this means is that Resveratrol causes a growth of new arteries into areas of damaged brain tissue after a stroke and leads to neurovascular recovery.
Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2012 May pp 884-95

STROKE  From the Medical University of Chongqing, China comes a paper on rats.  Like the previous study, rats were pretreated with Resveratrol.  In this study, ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) was done on rats pre-treated with Resveratrol as well as rats on placebo.  An atery in the brain was clamped (stroke) and the unclamped (treatment for a stroke).  The rats were later killed and their brains were examined.  The Resveratrol treated group had a much smaller volume of damaged brain tissue than the non-Resveratrol group.  Resveratrol pretreatment had a neuroprotective effect on brain injury after a stroke.
Neurochem Res 2011 Dec pp 2352-62

STROKE  As opposed to the previous two papers, researchers at the Ewha Women's University in Seoul, Republic of Korea, published research on Resveratrol given after a stroke.  Mice were given a stroke by clamping off an artery in the brain.  Resveratrol was given to one fourth of the mice 3 hours after the strole.  They were then examined for volume of brain damage compared to the brains of untreated mice at the same point in time.  One fourth of the mice were then given Resveratrol at 6 hours after the stroke, killed and examined and compared to the final one fourth of mice stroked and sacrificed at the same time  In mice treated with Resveratrol at 3 hoursor at 6 hours after a stroke had significantly less loss of brain tissue.  This mmay be due the neuroprotective effectsd of Resveratrol as well as its anti-inflammatory properties.
J Immunol 2010 Oct pp 93-100

DIABETES  A paper from Zanjau University, Iran looked at diabetic versus non-diabetic rats.  A drug called Streptozotocin will damage the pancreas and cause diabetes.  One half of the rats were put on oral Resveratrol and the other half on a placebo.  Half of each of these two groups was the given Steptoztocin, causing diabetes.  This resulted in four groups, normal control, diabetic control, normal with Resveratrol, and diabetic with Resveratrol. The diabetic with Resveratrol group had much less change in the blood sugar than the diabetic control group.  Several other lab values were better in the Resveratrol group.  The conclusion was that chronic Resveratrol administratiion is safe, and may be considered as a beneficial and therapeutic compound in Diabetics.
Endocr Regul 2012 Dec pp 83-90

DIABETES  Researchers at the Kyungpook National University in Taegu, Korea used mice to study the effect of Resveratrol on type 2 diabetes.  In this study using diabetic mice, all animals were fed the same diet.  One third were given a small amount of Resveratrol (.005%), another one third a higher amount of Resveratrol (.02%) and the final third were given an anti-diabetic medication Avandia.  After six weeks, the mice were studied.  Both Resveratrol groups had a lower Hemoglobin A1c and higher insulin levels..  They also had lower triglycerides.  The conclusion was that Resveratrol was more effective than Avandia as a treatment for diabetes.
Neurochem Res 2011 Dec pp 2352-62

DIABETES  From the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology in Hyderabad, India comes a study.  Fructose-fed insulin resistant rats were given either Resveratrol or metformin (Glucophage).  Both groups had a significant normalization of blood sugar, triglycerides and uric acid.  The difference was that the Resveratrol group showed a marked insulin sensitizing action compared to the glucophage group.  The conclusion was that "Resveratrol is more effective than metformin in improving insulin sensitivity."
Pharmacol Res 2012 May

You may have noticed that most of these papers are non-US.  Many parts of the world are more open to non-traditional "natural" approaches to disease.  In the AUS much of the research is funded, right or wrong, by "Big Pharma", and that involves profit motives and government regulation.  Regardless of the source of the research, it looks like Resveratrol, the major ingredient in Shaklee's Vivix, will be around for a long time.

 

LOWERING BODY FAT

Greetings once again to my blog on resveratrol.  Here I review articles published in medical journals on current research into the effects and benefits of resveratrol.

The article for this blog is on Lowering Body Fat, from the Institute of Carlos III in Vitoria, Spain.  There they fed rats a diet designed to promote obesity.  Half the rats were also fed resveratrol and the other rats not for six weeks.  Several chemical changes involved in loss of body fat were measured in muscle tissue and fat tissue.  The resveratrol group had higher levels of chemicals that increase thermogenesis.  This is the production of heat from muscle and fat cells and is involved in fat loss and thus weight loss.  This may be part of the mechanism explaining why rats on high fat diets lose body fat through thermogenesis.  Regardless of the reason, rats on high fat diet and Resveratrol lose weight.
Resveratrol may be something to consider adding to your diet if you are on a weight loss or weight management program.  

Dr. Bob 

Food Chem, 2013 Nov 15  pp 1530

BRAIN PROTECTION

Brain Protective—From India comes a study of diabetic rats who have artificial strokes.  In this group of rats, the carotid artery was clamped on each side for 30 min. thus creating a stroke.  They were then unclamped for 4 hours.  This would be like someone who had been treated for the stroke.  Some of the rats were given resveratrol and the others given nothing.  Blood tests were done on products that escaped into the blood after brain injury.  The Resveratrol  group was given 5, 10, 20 or 30 mg of resveratrol per kilogram of body weight.  There was a dose dependent reduction in the amount of brain damage.  This means the more resveratrol they took,  the less brain damage there was.  Other markers looking at and the anti-inflammation and antioxidation were measured and they were elevated in the resveratrol group indicating the mechanism of action in protecting the brain.  There appears to be a neuroprotective effect against the damages of loss of blood flow  to the brain.

Naunyn Schmiedbergs Arch Pharmachol

Dr. Bob

MUSCLE STRENGTH AND ENDURANCE

Exercise tolerance––While much has been published on the Resveratrol and the antioxidative and its anti-inflammatory properties, little research has been done on its effect on physical fatigue and exercise performance.  In Taiwan 4 groups of mice were studied.  One had no resveratrol, one had a small amount each day the third had a moderate amount and a fourth group had a large amount of resveratrol added to the diet.  They were then tested measuring for limb grip strength, exhaustive swimming time and blood levels of enzymes created by exercise after a 15 min. swim.  The  group on a small amount of resveratrol had more than twice the exhaustive swimming time as the control group.  All 3 groups treated with Resveratrol had a greater grip strength than the control group.   The level of enzymes after the 15 minutes swim were lower in all 3 resveratrol groups.  It would appear at least in mice that resveratrol increases acute muscle strength as well as endurance.

Molecule, 2013 Apr 19

Dr. Bob...