Danes begin biggest-ever resveratrol study

Resveratrol, a compound found in red wine that's thought to increase longevity, has long been a darling of those who promote so-called "natural" health products--not to mention those who follow mainstream media reports of its reported anti-aging effects. The pharmaceutical world, however, has not had much luck with the compound. Most recently, GlaxoSmithKline dumped its resveratrol supplement program due to weak efficacy and renal risk. But now, a Danish government agency is about to embark on the longest study ever on resveratrol's management of metabolic syndrome, osteoporosis and chronic inflammation.

The five-year study run by the Danish Council for Strategic Research is going to measure several biomarkers in blood or urine that are associated with diseases. "Clinical studies evaluating nutrient intake over long periods are fraught with inconsistency because of lack of compliance of the subjects," said Herb Woolf, president of Fluxome, the company that will provide the resveratrol for the study. "Validated biomarkers will give reliable indicators for the subjects so they will know they are on the right track for good health."

BeverageDaily.com reports that the lead researcher on the project is Steen Bønløkke Pedersen from Aarhus University. "From animal studies it is known that resveratrol has strong anti-inflammatory effects," Pedersen said in a research summary. "However, any health promoting effect of resveratrol in humans is only very sparsely studied. The precise intra-cellular anti-inflammatory pathways of resveratrol will furthermore be studied in clinical trials and in cell culture systems. Finally, a consumer acceptance study is conducted to evaluate the acceptance of use of resveratrol as food additive, herbal medicine or as novel food."

- read the report in BeverageDaily.com
- and the Fluxome release