Resveratrol Benefits Bone Health in Obese Men

by | Dec 30, 2015 | 2014, Bone Health, Men's Health, Metabolic Syndrome, Obesity, Resveratrol

Written by Greg Arnold, DC, CSCS. Those taking resveratrol showed a 16% improvement in a marker for bone turnover compared to the control group.  

Metabolic Syndrome affects over 47 million Americans (1) and is characterized by several risk factors. These include central obesity (excessive fat tissue in and around the abdomen), increased blood pressure (130/85 mmHg or higher), and insulin resistance (the body can’t properly use insulin or blood sugar). With an average yearly medication cost of $4,000 for a patient with Metabolic Syndrome, it has been called the most expensive disease you’ve never heard of” (2).

Because metabolic syndrome causes low levels of inflammation (3), and inflammation is a major cause of bone loss (4, 5), it’s important to find way to help subjects with metabolic syndrome maintain bone health. Now a new study (6) suggests that resveratrol may help.

The study involved 74 obese men (body mass index between 30.1 and 37.3 kg/m2) between the ages of 43 and 54.6 and diagnosed with metabolic syndrome. They were given either 1,000 milligrams of resveratrol (25 subjects), 150 milligrams of resveratrol (23 subjects) or placebo (26 subjects) per day for 16 weeks. Before and after the study, blood samples were taken to measure a level of bone turnover called alkaline phosphatase. CT scans were taken to measure for bone density in the low back (called the lumbar spine) and the hip.

After 16 weeks, those in the high-dose resveratrol group saw a 6% increase in levels of alkaline phosphatase levels compared to a 3.5% decrease in the low-dose resveratrol group and a 10% decrease in the placebo group (p < 0.001). In addition, bone density in the lumbar spine increased by 2.55% in the high-dose resveratrol group, compared to a 0.93% increase in the low-dose resveratrol group and a 0.0.4% decrease in the placebo group (p = 0.043). No bone density changes were seen in the hip (p = 0.68.

When suggesting how resveratrol elicits these benefits on bone health, the researchers pointed to mouse studies showing resveratrol to increase activity of bone-making cells (called osteoblasts) (7, 8) while stopping activity of cells that break down bone (called osteoclasts) (9, 10). They went on to conclude that “high-dose resveratrol supplementation positively affects bone” and that “future studies of longer duration comprising populations at risk of osteoporosis are needed to confirm these results.”

Source: Ornstrup, Marie Juul, et al. “Resveratrol increases bone mineral density and bone alkaline phosphatase in obese men: a randomized placebo-controlled trial.” The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 99.12 (2014): 4720-4729.

© 2014 by the Endocrine Society

Posted November 17, 2014.

Greg Arnold is a Chiropractic Physician practicing in Hauppauge, NY.  You can contact Dr. Arnold directly by emailing him at PitchingDoc@msn.com or visiting his web site at www.PitchingDoc.com

References:

  1. “Metabolic Syndrome” posted on the American Heart Association Website
  2. “Metabolic Syndrome: The Most Expensive Disease You’ve Never Heard Of” – Medical News Today, May 9, 2005
  3. Jung UJ, ChoiMS.Obesity and its metabolic complications: The role of adipokines and the relationship between obesity, inflammation, insulin resistance, dyslipidemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. Int J Mol Sci. 2014;15:6184–6223.
  4. Redlich K, Smolen JS. Inflammatory bone loss: Pathogenesis and therapeutic intervention. Nat Rev Drug Discov. 2012;11:234–250.
  5. Hofbauer LC, Khosla S, Dunstan CR, Lacey DL, Boyle WJ, Riggs BL. The roles of osteoprotegerin and osteoprotegerin ligand in the paracrine regulation of bone resorption. J Bone Miner Res. 2000; 15:2–12.
  6. Ornstrup MJ. Resveratrol Increases Bone Mineral Density and Bone Alkaline Phosphatase in Obese Men: A Randomized Placebo-Controlled Trial. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 2014 Oct 16:jc20142799. [Epub ahead of print]
  7. Dai Z, Li Y, Quarles LD, et al. Resveratrol enhances proliferation and osteoblastic differentiation in human mesenchymal stem cells via ER-dependent ERK1/2 activation. Phytomedicine. 2007;14: 806–814
  8. Zhou H, Shang L, Li X, et al. Resveratrol augments the canonical Wnt signaling pathway in promoting osteoblastic differentiation of multipotent mesenchymal cells. Exp Cell Res. 2009;315:2953–2962
  9. Boissy P, Andersen TL, Abdallah BM, Kassem M, Plesner T, Delaisse JM. Resveratrol inhibits myeloma cell growth, prevents osteoclast formation, and promotes osteoblast differentiation. Cancer Res. 2005;65:9943–9952
  10. Shakibaei M, Buhrmann C, Mobasheri A. Resveratrol-mediated SIRT-1 interactions with p300 modulate receptor activator of NFkappaB ligand (RANKL) activation of NF-kappaB signaling and inhibit osteoclastogenesis in bone-derived cells. J Biol Chem.