Comprehensive Library Of Resveratrol News

If a newly published report is correct, that resveratrol (rez-vair-a-trol) dietary supplements are based upon on thread-thin if not altogether bogus science, I ought to be confessing I’m a charlatan and snake oil salesman and resign from my self-appointed position as defender of res-pills and editor at ResveratrolNews.com

The latest knife that has been thrown at resveratrol comes from a doctor-run website that claims it is an authoritative non-commercial source of information on topics like resveratrol.   The NutritionFacts.org website accepts no advertising and has no hidden sponsors.  There is no product line of dietary supplements that are being sold covertly at “SnakeOilWondersupplements.com.”  We are all pleased to hear that.

Anyone who has commercial interest in resveratrol pills, like myself, is biased I guess.  Yes, after living 73 years without any evident disease or need for medication, without a hint of a cloudy cataract or cholesterol (drusen) deposits at the back of my eyes that are apparent in 91% of adults my age, I guess I am biased.

The first “unbiased” criticism at NutritionFacts.org lobbed at resveratrol is that science shows it impairs the benefits of exercise (there is a whole video presentation about this).  Why a report published in the Journal of Physiology says so.

However, that mischaracterization was roundly rebutted by other experts (“critical appraisal suggests the analyses and conclusions presented are incorrect for the result presented and will cause confusion”) and at ResveratrolNews.com (“at no time point did resveratrol meaningfully negate the effects of exercise”).

A year prior to this negative report other investigators reported in the very same Journal of Physiology that a modest dose of resveratrol enhances exercise training by 21%.  Researchers said they “were excited to see that resveratrol showed results similar to what you would see from extensive endurance exercise training.”

There was no way that the scientific community was going to stand for that.  A year later came the prior mentioned report that resveratrol blunts the positive effects of exercise.

Take a look at the chart below and see if resveratrol in any meaningful way unfavorably altered blood sugar, cholesterol or blood pressure.

If you haven’t been following the resveratrol story, the research is replete with false claims resveratrol is not bioavailable, not safe and not effective.

However, contrary to earlier reports, a reevaluation of earlier research confirms resveratrol does in fact prolong the life of laboratory animals.

Why resveratrol “does the impossible.”   Resveratrol reverses the biological clock hands of time — something considered a mathematical impossibility.

Resveratrol achieves neoteny – the ability to live long and look young.

While billionaire oligarchs are reported to be undergoing infusions of blood from young adults to make themselves biologically young, resveratrol accomplishes this by the very same biological mechanism.

A more recent study shows that resveratrol supplementation improves muscle mass and strength over and above what exercise achieved, in older adults I might add.

NutritionFacts.org says over 100 published papers involving resveratrol research “have been called into question.”  Ah, yes, NutritionFacts.org refers to the late Dipak Das PhD whose papers were retracted for alleged doctored science.

But subsequent research conducted by other independent researchers, who used the same study design and dosage, vindicate Dr. Das’ studies that found modest-dose resveratrol protects heart muscle from damage during a heart attack, which represents the best form of cardioprotection.

The archived scientific achievements of Dr. Das dwarf those of the scientific officer at NutritionFacts.org whose name is not found on a single research paper about resveratrol.

NutritionFacts.org went on to cite another long-term study conducted among older residents in the Tuscany region of Italy that concluded resveratrol “did not protect against inflammation, cancer, cardiovascular disease or death.”

However, one would think NutritionFacts.org would know how to read a research paper.  That study did not involve resveratrol pills, it was a study conducted among older adults who obtain their resveratrol from wine.

The wine-drinking Italians nearly halved their risk for mental decline, a fact that was buried in the research paper and follow-up news reports.  Consumption of ~2.6 glasses of wine daily reduced the percentage of older adults with a low mental acuity score from 31.0% to 16.4% (see above chart). The heavy use of tobacco among heavy wine drinkers may have negated the life-prolonging benefits of modest wine drinking.

NutritionFacts.org is not the only critic of resveratrol.

Another recent report suggests resveratrol is NOT the long-awaited “drug of tomorrow” that will vanquish aging.  But research continues.  Over ten thousand published papers say the research community hasn’t completely given up on resveratrol, it has just been thrown under the rug.

There is a lot of slanted research published about resveratrol.

There haven’t been any deaths or serious side effects reported for resveratrol pills since they became popular in 2004.  Any day now modern medicine could safely prescribe resveratrol pills and watch mortality rates decline steeply.

The disease and treatment models of modern medicine are bankrupting advanced countries.  People are living longer without improvement of their healthspan.  Resveratrol pills are an alternative to problematic prescription drugs.  Only the brave venture to take resveratrol pills against the advice of their doctors who choose to wear blinders.  Sales of resveratrol pills are now estimated at ~$45 million in the US, which doesn’t even rank in the top 10 herbal supplements.