Resveratrol is a stilbenoid that produced by several plants in response to injury. Sources of resveratrol in food include the skin of grapes, blueberries, raspberries, mulberries. It is a a type of natural phenol, and a phytoalexin; that is to say that it has antioxidant and antimicrobial activity that acts to protect the plant.
Resveratrol may have human health benefits as well. Recent research, presented to a meeting of the American Heart Association, in Minneapolis on May 4, 2017. It found that resveratrol supplements reduced arterial stiffness in patients with type 2 diabetes; in other words, they improved arteriosclerosis and thereby lowered the risk for heart attack.
“In treatment with resveratrol among people with diabetes, there was a trend toward improvement in the stiffness. And in people with higher stiffness there was more of a benefit,” said lead researcher Dr. Naomi Hamburg. She is chief of the vascular biology section at Boston University School of Medicine.
Although Dr. Hamburg stated that it was too soon to be recommending resveratrol for reducing heart attacks and strokes, but believes that this study supplies enough evidence to support future research.
Other research, published in Nutrition Research (2012 Jul;32(7):537-41. doi: 10.1016/ j.nutres.2012.06.003. Epub 2012 Jul 27) supports the value of resveratrol for type 2 diabetes for helping to control blood sugar. The subjects of the study were 62 patients with type 2 diabetes. The control group received only their blood sugar medication; the test group received the medication plus 250 mg/day of resveratrol for three months.
Hemoglobin A(1c), cholesterol (HDL, LDL triglycerides), urea nitrogen, creatinine, and protein were measured at the start of the study and at the end of three months. The group that was supplemented with resveratrol had improved hemoglobin A(1c), systolic blood pressure, total cholesterol, and total protein. No significant changes in body weight and high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterols were observed. Oral supplementation of resveratrol is thus found to be effective in improving blood sugar control and may possibly provide a potential adjuvant for the treatment and management of diabetes.
