Is there any benefit to resveratrol? If so, should we get it from wine, grapes, peanuts, or supplements?
The Best Source of Resveratrol
4.5/5 - (159 votes)
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Yeah: “Alcohol is a neurotoxin which can cause brain damage.” Yeah, alcohol can cause cancer. And so, perhaps the consumption of alcohol cannot be considered a healthy lifestyle choice, since it’s “an addictive carcinogen.” But, cancer is only killer #2. Killer #1 is heart disease. And so, what about the French paradox? Doesn’t moderate drinking protect against cardiovascular disease?
As I’ve explained before, there apparently is no French paradox—it seems to have been all been just a scam. But that’s what started the whole “resveratrol fiasco.” One episode on 60 Minutes suggested the red-wine component resveratrol may account for the French paradox, and “research took off.” Even after it turned out there was “no French paradox,” research continued unabated, culminating in “10,000 scientific publications” to date.
And what did they find? “[A]fter more than 20 years of well-funded research, resveratrol has no proven human activity.” “One salient theme that consistently arises throughout this voluminous body of work underscores the fact that data from human studies…is sorely lacking, despite [resveratrol’s] popularity as [a dietary’ supplement.” “[T]he hype in the popular media regarding resveratrol…may indeed turn out to be nothing more than a slight-of-hand marketing device using…non-human research as a cover.”
When you see graphics like this, they’re based on laboratory animal studies at massive doses, tens of milligrams per pound. So, if you do the math, that’s where so-called “experts” arrive at suggestions for a gram a day for people. Okay, so, how much red wine do you have to drink to get that much? Oh, just like 5,000 cups a day, or a couple thousand gallons of white wine a day, or 5,000 pounds of apples or grapes, or maybe 50,000 pounds of peanuts—that is one big PB&J—or a couple thousand pounds of chocolate. Start out with a million bottles of beer on the wall.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters when a leading resveratrol researcher is “found guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data,” throwing the whole field into turmoil. “Wine may only be good,” this translates to, “for those who sell it.”
“The resveratrol fiasco is not the only” time dietary supplements have failed to fulfill their promise. “Notable examples include…beta-carotene” pills and fish oil capsules, where studies in the 90s showed taking beta-carotene in pill form actually increased cancer risk, and, in 2013, the shift on fish oil supplements “from ‘No Proof of Effectiveness’ to ‘Proof of No Effectiveness'”—”[t]he main lesson [being] that what makes biological sense and works in test tubes and [lab rats] does not always operate in humans.”
After all, resveratrol is only one of tens of thousands of components identified. Thinking in terms of “whole…food[s]…may be a better approach for health and disease prevention.” Like, instead of one chemical in wine extracted from grapes, how about just eating the whole grape? “[F]or the prevention of diseases, the [whole] dietary grape seems to be the best-case scenario.”
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Braillon A. Consumption of alcohol, an addictive carcinogen, cannot be a healthy lifestyle choice!. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2016;77(5):838.
- Khakimov B, Engelsen SB. Resveratrol in the foodomics era: 1:25,000. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2017;1403(1):48-58.
- Messori A, Fadda V, Maratea D, Trippoli S. ω-3 fatty acid supplements for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: from "no proof of effectiveness" to "proof of no effectiveness". JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(15):1466-1468.
- Weiskirchen S, Weiskirchen R. Resveratrol: how much wine do you have to drink to stay healthy?. Adv Nutr. 2016;7(4):706-718.
- Roehr B. Cardiovascular researcher fabricated data in studies of red wine. BMJ. 2012;344:e406.
- Tang PC, Ng YF, Ho S, Gyda M, Chan SW. Resveratrol and cardiovascular health--promising therapeutic or hopeless illusion?. Pharmacol Res. 2014;90:88-115.
- Visioli F. The resveratrol fiasco. Pharmacol Res. 2014;90:87.
- Sellman D. Ten things the alcohol industry won't tell you about alcohol. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2010;29(3):301-303.
- Singh CK, Liu X, Ahmad N. Resveratrol, in its natural combination in whole grape, for health promotion and disease management. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2015;1348(1):150-160.
- Duffield-Lillico AJ, Begg CB. Reflections on the landmark studies of beta-carotene supplementation. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;96(23):1729-1731.
- Braillon A, Dubois G. [Wine is good for those… who sell it! Letter on the article "Wine: good for all cardiovascular diseases?"]. La Presse Medicale. 2015;44(1):127-128.
Image credit: Roberta Sorge via Unsplash. Image has been modified.
Motion graphics by Avocado Video.
Below is an approximation of this video’s audio content. To see any graphs, charts, graphics, images, and quotes to which Dr. Greger may be referring, watch the above video.
Yeah: “Alcohol is a neurotoxin which can cause brain damage.” Yeah, alcohol can cause cancer. And so, perhaps the consumption of alcohol cannot be considered a healthy lifestyle choice, since it’s “an addictive carcinogen.” But, cancer is only killer #2. Killer #1 is heart disease. And so, what about the French paradox? Doesn’t moderate drinking protect against cardiovascular disease?
As I’ve explained before, there apparently is no French paradox—it seems to have been all been just a scam. But that’s what started the whole “resveratrol fiasco.” One episode on 60 Minutes suggested the red-wine component resveratrol may account for the French paradox, and “research took off.” Even after it turned out there was “no French paradox,” research continued unabated, culminating in “10,000 scientific publications” to date.
And what did they find? “[A]fter more than 20 years of well-funded research, resveratrol has no proven human activity.” “One salient theme that consistently arises throughout this voluminous body of work underscores the fact that data from human studies…is sorely lacking, despite [resveratrol’s] popularity as [a dietary’ supplement.” “[T]he hype in the popular media regarding resveratrol…may indeed turn out to be nothing more than a slight-of-hand marketing device using…non-human research as a cover.”
When you see graphics like this, they’re based on laboratory animal studies at massive doses, tens of milligrams per pound. So, if you do the math, that’s where so-called “experts” arrive at suggestions for a gram a day for people. Okay, so, how much red wine do you have to drink to get that much? Oh, just like 5,000 cups a day, or a couple thousand gallons of white wine a day, or 5,000 pounds of apples or grapes, or maybe 50,000 pounds of peanuts—that is one big PB&J—or a couple thousand pounds of chocolate. Start out with a million bottles of beer on the wall.
Of course, it doesn’t help matters when a leading resveratrol researcher is “found guilty of 145 counts of fabrication and falsification of data,” throwing the whole field into turmoil. “Wine may only be good,” this translates to, “for those who sell it.”
“The resveratrol fiasco is not the only” time dietary supplements have failed to fulfill their promise. “Notable examples include…beta-carotene” pills and fish oil capsules, where studies in the 90s showed taking beta-carotene in pill form actually increased cancer risk, and, in 2013, the shift on fish oil supplements “from ‘No Proof of Effectiveness’ to ‘Proof of No Effectiveness'”—”[t]he main lesson [being] that what makes biological sense and works in test tubes and [lab rats] does not always operate in humans.”
After all, resveratrol is only one of tens of thousands of components identified. Thinking in terms of “whole…food[s]…may be a better approach for health and disease prevention.” Like, instead of one chemical in wine extracted from grapes, how about just eating the whole grape? “[F]or the prevention of diseases, the [whole] dietary grape seems to be the best-case scenario.”
Please consider volunteering to help out on the site.
- Braillon A. Consumption of alcohol, an addictive carcinogen, cannot be a healthy lifestyle choice!. J Stud Alcohol Drugs. 2016;77(5):838.
- Khakimov B, Engelsen SB. Resveratrol in the foodomics era: 1:25,000. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2017;1403(1):48-58.
- Messori A, Fadda V, Maratea D, Trippoli S. ω-3 fatty acid supplements for secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease: from "no proof of effectiveness" to "proof of no effectiveness". JAMA Intern Med. 2013;173(15):1466-1468.
- Weiskirchen S, Weiskirchen R. Resveratrol: how much wine do you have to drink to stay healthy?. Adv Nutr. 2016;7(4):706-718.
- Roehr B. Cardiovascular researcher fabricated data in studies of red wine. BMJ. 2012;344:e406.
- Tang PC, Ng YF, Ho S, Gyda M, Chan SW. Resveratrol and cardiovascular health--promising therapeutic or hopeless illusion?. Pharmacol Res. 2014;90:88-115.
- Visioli F. The resveratrol fiasco. Pharmacol Res. 2014;90:87.
- Sellman D. Ten things the alcohol industry won't tell you about alcohol. Drug Alcohol Rev. 2010;29(3):301-303.
- Singh CK, Liu X, Ahmad N. Resveratrol, in its natural combination in whole grape, for health promotion and disease management. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2015;1348(1):150-160.
- Duffield-Lillico AJ, Begg CB. Reflections on the landmark studies of beta-carotene supplementation. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2004;96(23):1729-1731.
- Braillon A, Dubois G. [Wine is good for those… who sell it! Letter on the article "Wine: good for all cardiovascular diseases?"]. La Presse Medicale. 2015;44(1):127-128.
Image credit: Roberta Sorge via Unsplash. Image has been modified.
Motion graphics by Avocado Video.
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Title
The Best Source of Resveratrol
LicenseCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Content URLDoctor's Note
I really like this current multi-month batch of videos in that I cover so many different interesting topics without getting too bogged down in a deep dive on one issue. This series on alcohol is the longest I’ve produced in a while, and it’s one I’ve wanted to cover for a long time.
In case you missed the first video in the series, check out Can Alcohol Cause Cancer?. The third and final videos in the series are Is It Better to Drink a Little Alcohol than None at All? and Do Any Benefits of Alcohol Outweigh the Risks?.
Surprised about the French paradox? Learn more in What Explains the French Paradox?.
Can resveratrol supplements do more harm than good? Check out Resveratrol Impairs Exercise Benefits.
Check out this four-part series on resveratrol:
- Does Resveratrol Make You Live Longer?
- Does Resveratrol Benefit Our Metabolic Health?
- Resveratrol Tested for Alzheimer’s, Artritis, and Osteoporosis
- Side Effects of Resveratrol Supplements
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