Industry now has additional data on one of the hottest nutrients on the market today: resveratrol. This ingredient, found in grapes and Japanese knotweed, is said to be responsible for the French paradox and various antioxidant benefits.

At the 4th International Conference on Polyphenols and Health (ICPH) in Yorkshire, U.K., held December 7–10, 2009, Narelle Berry, Ph.D., from the University of South Australia, described data on a branded resveratrol ingredient (resVida from DSM Nutritional Products, based in Parsippany, NJ). Some 19 overweight individuals and post-menopausal women who were not being treated for high blood pressure were given a placebo and then trans-resveratrol (30, 90, 270 mg) at weekly intervals. Berry and colleagues found that the resveratrol improved flow-mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery. FMD is often used to quantify endothethial function, which, in turn, can be used to determine cardiovascular health risk.

The numbers for how trans-resveratrol supplementation affected FMD were significant. When subjects took the placebo, their FMD was 3.9% (±0.8%); after taking 270 mg of trans-resveratrol, it was 7.6% (±1.6%).
Fellow researcher Rachel Wong, B.S., presented additional data at the Joint Annual Scientific Meeting of the Nutrition Society of Australia and the Nutrition Society of New Zealand in Newcastle, Australia. Wong reported that trans-resveratrol did not affect the blood pressure response to exercise.

Published in WholeFoods Magazine, Feb. 2010