Resveratrol in Red Wine Can Help Against Obesity

Resveratrol has been reported many times over to help against a wide range of maladies: Alzheimer’s Disease, cancer, stroke, diabetes, among others.

And the list gets longer: resveratrol can also help battle obesity, a recent report claims.

Researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany wanted to know if resveratrol could mimic the effects of calorie restriction in human fat cells by changing their size or function. The German team used a strain of human fat cell precursors, called preadipocytes. In the body, these cells develop into mature fat cells, according to the study’s lead author, Pamela Fischer-Posovszky, PhD, a pediatric endocrinology research fellow in the university’s Diabetes and Obesity Unit.

In the cell-based study, they found that resveratrol inhibited the pre-fat cells from increasing and prevented them from converting into mature fat cells. Also, resveratrol hindered fat storage. Most interesting, according to Fischer-Posovszky, was that resveratrol reduced production of certain cytokines (interleukins 6 and 8), substances that may be linked to the development of obesity-related disorders, such as diabetes and clogged coronary arteries. Also, resveratrol stimulated formation of a protein known to decrease the risk of heart attack. Obesity decreases this substance, called adiponectin.

Similar conclusions have been reported by researchers at the Harvard Medical School and the National Institute on Aging two years ago: that resveratrol may help improve the health and possibly increase the lifespan by offsetting the effects of a high-calorie diet.

Yet another proof supporting the French paradox?