Welcome back to my blog on resveratrol. As we had discussed in the past most of the
research has been done either in the lab in the last issues with cells and cell
cultures or a lap band moles. Recently
there has been an increase in human research and there are 4 separate review
articles published recently in the medical journals based on human
research. I would like to do a quick
review of this group of articles. It is
encouraging that more research is currently being done on clinical conditions
in people.
The first article is from Maastricht University in the
Netherlands and is regarding the health benefits of resveratrol and obesity and
adult onset diabetes. Rodent studies in
the past have shown that resveratrol does improve a variety of metabolic
problems. The authors have a short
review of those recent articles currently available which examined the
beneficial effects of resveratrol on obesity and type 2 diabetes in
humans. Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013: 83-9
A second article comes from Denmark looking at an overview
of the treatment of metabolic diseases and obesity. Resveratrol promotes longevity in a variety
of species and protects against diet-induced metabolic abnormalities in rodents. This report is a review article giving a
brief overview on the future scientific directions of resveratrol research in
humans. Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013: 74-82
A third article from the same Journal comes from a research
group in Spain. They are looking at both
primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Primary prevention would be avoiding a first
event in patients not yet diagnosed with heart disease. Secondary prevention would be to avoid new
events in patients who have established heart disease. The researchers are looking at the Cardio-
protective effects of resveratrol. They
reviewed studies done in humans at risk for cardiovascular disease and focused
on the two longest human trials each with one year of follow up. There was a statistically significant change
in the cardiovascular risk markers in patients on resveratrol. Ann N Y Acad Sci
July 2013: 37-51
The final article is on the management of human cancer using
resveratrol. The strongest research has
been in the prevention of cancer in the presence of chemicals that caused the
cancer to develop, called carcinogens.
Resveratrol is being studied for both the prevention and treatment of a
variety of cancers. This is something that
is safe with minimal toxicity and readily available. This article reviews the studies done on
cancer in humans and the role of resveratrol in recent years. Ann N Y Acad Sci July 2013: 12-20
It is encouraging to see ongoing research both in the pure
science realm and in human clinical research.
We are currently looking at the early stages but with a great deal of promise
in terms of potential benefit in the future.
Until next time.
Dr.
Bob
