What Is the Connection between Resveratrol and Anti-Aging?

Resveratrol and anti-aging are often linked together in modern health literature as of 2011 due to evidence from research that a diet high in resveratrol can reduce the risk of common deadly diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and heart disease. The most common reason, however, that resveratrol and anti-aging are often mentioned together is that the compound is a polyphenol present in several popular grape- and peanut-based foods that can have a powerful antioxidant affect on cellular processes. Antioxidants are compounds that bind to free radical oxygen molecules in the blood stream, preventing oxidation that can degrade human tissue and inhibit cellular repair, which leads to gradual aging effects over time.

Research into resveratrol and anti-aging effects on people specifically is a new arena of science that hasn't received much attention in human biological research as of 2011. This is due to the fact that most fundamental research on anti-aging effects has been carried out on primitive animals such as yeast, nematodes, and fruit flies, with limited studies in mammals such as mice. These research results have not been duplicated in long-term human pharmacological studies to date because the aging process has many causes in the human population that don't lend themselves to a focus on a specific disease that a drug company might profit from treating.

Where the uses of resveratrol for various disease treatments have been studied, the results have been positive. A comprehensive analysis of over 100 resveratrol research studies by the University of Connecticut in the US has shown that the compound has a general beneficial effect in combating the onset of many common diseases, but that there was no clear evidence of resveratrol and anti-aging effects. Logic suggests that if the compound prevents or delays disease onset, it can lengthen life spans in doing so, but this is just a side-effect of its benefit in the diet, like exercise or adequate rest might be, and not one that is directly related to the compound's consumption.

The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) in a review of resveratrol and anti-aging related effects research in 2008, found that the compound reduced the age-related decline of mice on a standard diet, but that it did not in fact extend the natural life span of the mice beyond what was typical for them. Effects on mice after 10 months of treatment included cardiovascular improvements, increased bone density, and functional or mobility improvements such as lower rates of eye cataract formation, and better balance and coordination in old mice than in control groups that were untreated.

While most preliminary research into resveratrol and anti-aging have shown virtually no side-effects when part of the natural diet or in standardized supplement form, long-term effects in the human population are unknown. Limited evidence suggests that risks of resveratrol may include interference with estrogen production and the blocking of the ability of contraceptive medication in women, but these results are preliminary and not widely supported as of 2011. The general safety record for the compound may be due to the fact that very little of it remains bio-available in the body regardless of the form in which it is consumed. Much of the resveratrol is broken down as glucuronate or sulfonate by the intestines and liver, and only trace amounts make it into the blood stream.

Therefore, high concentrations of resveratrol may be necessary to reach the blood stream levels that have shown beneficial effects in lab animals. A 50-milligram resveratrol oral dose may only produce 10 nanograms per milliliter of bio-available compound in the blood, where doses of 3 to 5 grams or more in the blood stream were seen as necessary to be beneficial for health in mice studies. By contrast, resveratrol from natural sources also has very low concentrations, with 1 cup (146 grams) of raw peanuts having about 0.2 milligrams of resveratrol, and 1 cup (160 grams) of red grapes having about 0.75 milligrams of the compound.