Resveratrol Helps to Preserve Brain Integrity in Humans

Resveratrol is a polyphenol that can be found in red wine, grapes, berries and peanuts. And it has gained a great deal of attention due to its promising benefits towards longevity. Several human clinical trials have confirmed that resveratrol supplementation can also bring other exciting health benefits.

So, can resveratrol slow down the brain’s Age-Related Cognitive Decline?

AGE-RELATED COGNITIVE DECLINE, is an increasing problem in our modern society. Deficits in cerebral microcirculation are presented as one of the causes of this terrible health condition.

The answer to the question is, YES! according to the 12-month randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial published in the journal of “Nutrients” in March 2020, studying trans-resveratrol’s capability of enhancing cognitive and cerebrovascular (brain) functions.

Here we are talking about a randomized, placebo-controlled human clinical trial aiming to investigate sustained cerebroVAscular and cognitive benefits of Trans-resveratrol in postmenopausal Women.

In this study, 129 women aged 45 to 85 were randomized to take a placebo or 75 mg trans-resveratrol in a capsule twice daily for 12 months. Effects on cognition, cerebral blood flow, cerebrovascular responsiveness, and cardio-metabolic markers (blood pressure, diabetes markers, and fasting LIpids) were assessed. Each resveratrol capsule contained 75 mg of synthetic trans-resveratrol with purity higher than 98% while a placebo consisted of several inert excipients.

I know there is an increasing trend that people tend to take resveratrol supplements by mixing it with fat such as yogurt, however, in this clinical trial, the resveratrol administration was by capsule form only.

As you can see in Table 2, it listed all of the participant baseline characteristics including age, years of postmenopausal, BMI, blood pressure, and so on. 146 women were enrolled of which (73) randomized into placebo and (73) resveratrol groups. The participants were chosen to have no differences between the placebo or trans-resveratrol groups for all the parameters in question.

Now let’s take a look at the results.

1. the outcome for the “cognitive performance” as you can see in Figure 2.

   I know there is an increasing trend that people tend to take resveratrol supplements by mixing it with fat such as yogurt, however, in this clinical trial, the resveratrol administration was by capsule form only.

   

2. the cerebrovascular function in basal blood flow velocity (BFV), and pulsatility index (PI, arterial stiffness) of the cerebral vessels, were significantly improved with resveratrol compared to the placebo as you can see in Figure 3. Basal Cerebral Hemodynamics” was acquired to follow the changes in the cerebral blood flow using a transcranial doppler ultrasound placed on participants’ heads with probes on the left and right temporal area to measure middle cerebral arteries at a depth of 45-60 mm.

   

3. cerebrovascular function: even though cerebrovascular responsiveness (CVR) to hypercapnia was unaffected by resveratrol supplementation after 12 months, a decline in neurovascular coupling capacity was ATTENUATED by resveratrol as you can see in table 4.

   As you may know, hypercapnia is a buildup of carbon dioxide in your bloodstream. To induce hypercapnia, participants breathed in the gas mixture of 95% oxygen, 5% carbon dioxide for 180 seconds, followed by the measurements.

   

   Overall neurovascular coupling capacity, especially in response to tests of cognitive flexibility, was improved as shown in Figure 4.

   

4. Cardiometabolic Markers: No significant differences were observed in cardio-metabolic markers between placebo and resveratrol. However, it was found that there is a correlation between the reductions in fasting blood glucose and the improvements in overall neurovascular coupling capacity with resveratrol supplementation as you can see in Figure 5.

   

Take-home messages:

1. Regular consumption of resveratrol can enhance cognitive and cerebrovascular functions in postmenopausal women, with the potential to slow cognitive decline, due to AGING and menopause. This is reason enough for me to consider stat taking a small dose of trans-resveratrol.
2. It is safe to take 75 mg of trans-Resveratrol twice a day for at least 12 months. No adverse effects were reported directly associated with trans-resveratrol.

Reference:

1. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6317057/
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32244933/