Resveratrol for Cardiovascular and Cognitive Health in Postmenopausal Women

by | May 4, 2020 | 2020, Brain Health, Cardiovascular Health, Cognitive Health, Menopause, Resveratrol, Women's Health

Written by Joyce Smith, BS. Study suggests resveratrol may be a low-cost, effective intervention to counteract the age and menopause-related accelerated cognitive decline in postmenopausal women.

agingToday, more people, particularly women, are living with dementia. 1 Since 1990, the global dementia rate has doubled. Almost doubling as well, and yet independent of life expectancy, is the dementia mortality rate in women. A decline in menopausal estrogen levels and the loss of cardiovascular and neurological protective benefits 2,3 may be partly to blame. Estrogen receptors on endothelial cells stimulate nitric oxide and vasodilation; thus, the decreasing estrogen levels in menopausal women accelerate arterial stiffening 4, compromising cardiovascular function and cerebral blood flow leading to increased risk of both cardiovascular disease 5, and  dementia 6. Research has shown that resveratrol, formally known as 3,5,4´-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene, and prevalent in berries, grapes and nuts, acts through various mechanisms including endothelial ER activation and nitric oxide production to facilitate cerebral vascularization and improved memory 7.

In 2017, Wong and colleagues in a 14-week randomized placebo-controlled pilot study of 80 postmenopausal women who took 75 mg of resveratrol twice daily demonstrated that regular resveratrol supplementation might slow down the accelerated cognitive aging and improve their cognitive performance, mood and cerebrovascular function 8. The same team conducted a subsequent  trial to determine whether these results would translate into sustained long-term cognitive and cardiovascular benefits. The following two-year, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover trial 9 was designed to evaluate the effects of the effects of resveratrol supplementation (75 mg twice daily) on cognitive performance (using a battery of neuropsychological tests) and on associated cerebrovascular and cardio metabolic markers (blood pressure, diabetes markers and fasting lipids) in 125 post-menopausal women. They report on the shot-term analysis of data performed at the end of the first stage of the crossover study to determine the effects of pre- and post-resveratrol supplementation between the placebo and resveratrol groups.

Compared to placebo, resveratrol modestly improved overall cognitive performance (P < 0.001). Improvements were greater in resveratrol group who had lower cognitive performance at baseline (R = -0.380, P = 0.002). Pattern Comparison Speed tests improved in the resveratrol group, compared to placebo, which the researchers believe is due to the significant improvements in two cognitive domains: processing speed (P = 0.019, Cohen’s d = 0.25) and cognitive flexibility (P = 0.011, Cohen’s d = 0.30). Both of these domains are part of executive function that requires speed, perceptual reasoning, and accuracy to accomplish tasks. Executive function declines with age, and processing speed and cognitive flexibility are among the first cognitive changes reported in healthy older adults.

Resveratrol also attenuated the decline in cerebrovascular responsiveness (CVR) to cognitive stimuli (P = 0.038). The latter effect was associated with reduction of fasting blood glucose (r = -0.339, P = 0.023).  Compared to placebo, subjects taking resveratrol saw significant improvements in basal blood flow velocities (systolic, mean, and diastolic), and pulsatility index, which is a measure of stiffness in cerebral vessels. A strength of this 12-month long study was the evidence that resveratrol’s benefits long-term benefits were sustained even through the four annual seasons. Limitations included the fact that trial participant volunteers are often more health conscious and cognitively aware, and can influence study compliance, performance and interpretation of study results. Study participants were all healthy postmenopausal women which disallows generalization to the larger population. The study team intends to provide follow-up reports on the benefits of resveratrol supplementation on bone health, physical function and quality of life in postmenopausal women.

Source: Zaw, Jay Jay Thaung, Peter RC Howe, and Rachel HX Wong. “Sustained Cerebrovascular and Cognitive Benefits of Resveratrol in Postmenopausal Women.” Nutrients 12, no. 3 (2020): 828.

© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

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Posted May 4, 2020.

Joyce Smith, BS, is a degreed laboratory technologist. She received her bachelor of arts with a major in Chemistry and a minor in Biology from  the University of Saskatchewan and her internship through the University of Saskatchewan College of Medicine and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She currently resides in Bloomingdale, IL.

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